Photographic exhibition by Bruno Zanzottera, Alessandro Gandolfi, Sergio Ramazzotti, Davide Scagliola, Gianmarco Maraviglia, Francesco Alesi, Luigi Baldelli, Simone Cerio
Produced by ParalleloZero Photo Agency
Curated by Gianmarco Maraviglia
When we talk about a man in the water, we say that he is not in his natural element. But, although unconsciously, we live in a liquid world. Indeed, we are that liquid. In fact water, that covers 71% of the earth's surface, also composes 7/10 of human body. Which element could be more natural of what hosts us for nine months before coming to life?
Quite all the religions tell about a mythic founder so strictly linked to water (or based on water, as the Flood). For all religious people, water is the basic element of the ritual purification, aimed to join with God.
During the last century, more than one war has been fought for water, and surely others will be fought in the future : when a man is thirsty, even if he is a good person, he is ready to take aim with a rifle for quenching his thirst. Water, even if seas and rivers daily grow poorer, is a source of sustenance for hundreds of millions of persons. The relationship between human being and water is indissoluble. Soft, poetic and dramatic tales rise every day, they have sometimes epic greatness.
Water that is fresh or salted, pure or poisoned. Water in a swimming-pole, in a stoop or in a river bed. Water that supports a fishing boat or becomes an ice layer during the long northern winter. Water where children cripple old cargo ships or where you can dip your body for a ritual born two millenniums ago. Water that is a battlefield or a way of escape. Water that is a wall for all young people who are ready to die during the crossing towards the north side of mare nostrum.
So, water becomes a liquid stage, where human comedy and drama play in countless repeats, different and similar at the same time.
This exhibition is a voyage around the world through 38 photos, from Egypt to Chile, from Tunisia to Bangladesh, from Russia to Thailand, from Brazil to Nigeria, from Congo to Mongolia, from Unites States to Italy.