The greatest pleasure is seeing three generations of photographers working on global issues included in the UN Agenda 2030. There is still a month to visit the exhibition at the Royal Museums of Turin Focus on Future which closes its doors on February 19th. In the Chiablese Halls there are more than 200 photographs by photojournalists, artists, architecture photographers, which present a journey through the great frailties of our time. As the UN Agenda has brought together in a single global project decisive steps to reduce economic, social and cultural disparities between countries, protect the environment, help those fleeing wars and natural disasters, in the same way the curator of the exhibition Bruna Biamino has selected the images for an itinerary around the globe. Alessandro Albert, Dario Bosio, Fabio Bucciarelli, Francesca Cirilli, Alessandro De Bellis, Pino Dell'Aquila, Nicole Depaoli, Luca Farinet, Luigi Gariglio, Antonio La Grotta, Matteo Montenero, Vittorio Mortarotti, Enzo Obiso and Paolo Verzone : these are the names of the photographers who document and bear witness to the living conditions in the four latitudes. Lhe environment and climate are the common thread of a planet in dispute with its inhabitants. A kind of hidden war that in the exhibition is depicted by melting glaciers, by the efforts of humanitarian organizations, by the shortage of resources in sub-Saharan African countries, by the scourges of Covid, by pollution.
Photography as a means to rethink the planet
The Royal Museums of Turin have long given space to exhibitions on the great issues of our time. Photography as a tool of instantaneous involves visitors in a tormented way. Whenever we are faced with images on the declining planet, we are seized with despair and blame those who are unable or unwilling to decline political or economic commitment in a different way. "The researches of the selected photographers trace a pattern of visual testimonies around the global challenges that await us– says the Director of the Royal Museums Enrica Pagella. A message that reverberates on the great heritage of the Royal Museums, to question the signs and reasons that help us interpret the present in the past". In this sense, the UN 2030 Agenda is a vision, the ideal background on which to guide the path towards the future.
Images that express human sensitivity
But the strength and value of the image denunciation should not be underestimated, for all the negligence we should do mea culpa. The power of the shot can turn into lever to change pitch ? Why not. And the answer comes from the organization of the exhibition which explains how the "images intertwine with statistical data that come from government organizations such as WHO, UNHCR, FAO, UNICEF and which amplify the visual message on the critical issues afflicting the conditions of the planet and living beings". "The spirit with which we developed the design of Focus on Future – says Bruna Biamino– it is like a great homage to the unforgettable photographic feats, but inserting a variant, i.e. the selection and enhancement of great talents who gravitate, or who have worked, or who were born in the Turin area". Among the 14 photographers are winners of prestigious awards such as the World Press Photo, authors of rReports published in New York Times, National Geographic, Le Monde, El Pais, Corriere della Sera. "All are united -Biamino concludes- by a marked sensitivity towards social issues and by the profound need to tell, as the great photographer Edward Steichen said, "the world to man and man to himself”. It can't just be a catchphrase.
