Water is more precious than diamonds: Italian land use on display

Water is more precious than diamonds: this is the idea that wants to convey an exhibition, titled precisely Acqua più preziosa del diamante (Water more precious than diamonds), which theItalian Institute of Photography is organizing from June 6 to 30 at the Centrale dell’Acqua in Milan, Italy’s first industrial museum dedicated to public water.The exhibition, which enjoys the patronage of the Municipality of Milan, recounts, through the eyes of 16 photographers, the exploitation of the soil and the environment as well as the drought conditions that have affected the Italian territory in the summer of 2022.

The photographic project, curated by photographer and IIF lecturer Erminio Annunzi, aims to bring out clearly the many consequences that human action is causing on the planet, from deforestation to melting glaciers but also the devastation caused by forest fires and the effects that the lack of rainfall has caused on the economic and social activities present along the banks of the Po River.

The invitation to the audience is to rethink the current use of natural resources and limit the impact of human activities by making them sustainable for the planet. Through different expressive languages, the photographers of the Italian Institute of Photography narrate the malaise of nature and the environment; some students offer documentary images of land and vegetation burned by fire, as well as fields parched by water shortages, or show the pitiless comparison between the Ticino’s dryness and the floods of previous years. In other cases, through a minimalist and contemporary approach, the shots depict the Po Riverbed transformed by drought into an inhospitable environment, reminiscent of the dry and dusty lunar surface, or tell the story of riverbanks where spontaneous vegetation grows among pebbles as a faint sign of hope.

The collaboration with MM SpA and Milan’s Centrale dell’Acqua makes the exhibition proposal even more topical and enriches it by creating a dialogue with an important city institution dedicated to raising awareness of water issues, its proper management and good practices to safeguard a resource that means life for the entire Planet.

Participating photographers: Carlo Francesco Amoroso, Fabio Berasi, Alice Castelli, Lucia Cesa, Annalisa Cinco, Andrea Marco Consonni, Miriana Corabi, Aaron Di Marino, Silvia Lago, Sandro Lasco, Luigi Lombardi, Giuseppe Martella, Massimiliano Meroni, Roberto Pasquali, Sandra Perilli and Helmut Schwanke.

A photographic publication with text by Erminio Annunzi presenting the different projects on display is presented on the occasion of the exhibition.

Image: photograph by Luigi Lombardi

Water is more precious than diamonds: Italian land use on display

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