Robbie McIntosh's On The Beach: Naples' Summer Photography

Robbie McIntosh's ongoing project 'On The Beach', initiated in 2012, documents public beaches in Naples, Italy, capturing the authentic social dynamics of summer. Rather than idealizing landscapes, McIntosh focuses on people, bodies, and everyday rituals, revealing how beaches become spaces where social classes, ages, and personalities coexist without apparent hierarchies. The project, which has been featured on Collater.al, highlights universal themes of community, belonging, and the body, extending its relevance beyond Naples. One emblematic image, 'Tutto passa', portrays an elderly bather named Antonio, whose faded tattoo bearing the phrase 'tutto passa' (everything passes) encapsulates a Neapolitan philosophy of resilience and living in the present. The article, written in collaboration with Luigi Falanga and Gaia Forlin (aka @super8otto), argues that memorable summer photographs are not those that make us desire a place, but those that reveal something about ourselves when we stop working and share public spaces with others. The piece also references other photographers and projects, including Aryz, Westwing x Crosby Studios, Francesco Faraci, Clara Fortuny, Ciro Silvestre, Marcus Wallinder, Thomas Mailaender, Billow926, Douglas Kirkland, and Olga Urbanek, situating McIntosh's work within a broader contemporary photography discourse.