Nik Erik Neubauer / Ko greš na jug, vedno jokaš dvakrat SLO/ITA

The photography project “You always cry twice when you go to the South” is a multi-year project that rep­resents the experience of living in Southern Italy. Photographs and texts (thoughts and poetry) are displayed as a unique personal diary. The main feeling that the work shows is the ubiquitous contrast between love, passion, and warmth on the one hand and the harshness and perseverance of the environment on the other.

"This project is a tribute to the city of Bari and other places in South Italy, where I spent intense and unforgettable time. It is a tribute to my friends, strangers who became my friends, and strangers who remained strangers, but let me had a glimpse of their life. This is also a tribute to people who made my coffee and gave me a cornetto every day, basketball guys who welcomed »the boy who came from Yugoslavia with a van« with open hands, guys that stole my phone and camera at the beach at 6 in the morning, drivers who didn’t kill me, doctors which saved my eye, a medical system which doesn’t work, trains that come on time, trains that come on time but are late and fireworks during the day." - Nik Erik Neubauer

“When a stranger comes to the South he cries twice: when he arrives and when he leaves.”

You Always Cry Twice When You Go to the South was one of the winners of the Belfast Photobook Festival in the photobook section in 2022.