The Italian swimmer lent herself with enthusiasm to creating a calendar, available on the website starting from 12 November 2015. The proceeds will go entirely to support assistance to patients and their families, and awareness activities towards Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, rare and little known disease of the pulmonary circulation, which particularly affects women.
The shots, taken by the photographer Gianluigi Di Napoli, will be featured in a preview of an exhibition, scheduled at the Illy Art Lab of the Milan Triennale, from 12 to 27 November 2015.
In a space created within the exhibition itinerary, the public will be able to interact virtually with Federica Pellegrini, taking a selfie with the reproduction of her image to post it on the various social channels, thus making the network aware of the campaigns supported by AIPI against hypertension pulmonary artery.
Federica Pellegrini has totally embraced the cause of AIPI, to the point of giving herself to the goal during the most intense training period, in preparation for the Kazan World Championships last summer, which saw her conquer the silver medal in the 200m test meters freestyle, consecrating her as the first and only athlete in history to get on the podium for six consecutive editions of the championships.
"It is an honor - says Federica Pellegrini - for me to be able to help AIPI, an association that works with great professionalism and commitment in the fight against a disease as sneaky as it is rare, which particularly affects women, and in the daily support of people who they are afflicted by it". "This is how my relationship with AIPI friends continues - continues Federica Pellegrini - which began in 2014 with the first edition of MASKS, in the hope, one day, of winning this race against a formidable and aggressive opponent".
"It is a great honor and a source of pride for AIPI - declares Pisana Ferrari, president of AIPI - to have the support of a world-renowned figure like Federica Pellegrini in our work of raising awareness of a rare, very serious and little known disease, hypertension pulmonary artery. With her determination, strength, youth and beauty, Federica brings an important message of hope to our patients and their families in the daily battle against the disease ”.
MASKS is the project created by Gianluigi Di Napoli, in collaboration with AIPI, in 2014, to focus attention on a degenerative and highly disabling disease and raise funds to support the activities of the association, established in 2001 by a group of patients with from pulmonary arterial hypertension.
The first edition of MASKS – which received an honorable mention at the MIFA Moscow International Foto Awards – involved twelve Italian women, well-known internationally, from the world of entertainment, music, culture and sport, posing as models for a calendar, whose distinctive character condensed the sense of illness into the element of the 'clown mask'.
The concept of the new campaign, which sees Federica Pellegrini as the sole protagonist, is closer to the patient's experience, through a lighter and more nuanced face make-up.
The interpretation of the distinctive elements of the manifestation of the disease are evoked in the seven photographs by Gianluigi Di Napoli, by three codes that recall the universe of reference of the Italian champion: air, the color blue and flowers.
In the first case, the air represents the breath that marks the movements of the swimmer, a vital element that is missing with the onset of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
The blue lips, one of the most evident symptoms of the disease, are transformed into a message of positivity, as blue is the color of the element in which Federica Pellegrini expresses herself at the highest levels and that of the Italian national team, in an ideal identification between the vital energy of the athlete and the fatigue that causes this disease.
Finally, flowers, whose lightness and elegance transmit hope and energy, just as nature renews itself and is reborn in every condition, however adverse.
“Federica Pellegrini is a woman with a unique energy – underlines Gianluigi Di Napoli -, the number one par excellence. It was a great pleasure and a great challenge to meet her again on the set to resume the discussion we had begun with MASKS 2014. The challenge was significant because it was necessary, in a very delicate moment for her and in a record time for a normal photographic production, to convey the her extraordinary energy out of the tub to express her qualities of femininity, elegance, harmony, power, her ability to give and love. We managed to understand each other and move with a somewhat telepathic fluidity and, thanks also to the extremely high professionalism and concentration of my staff, we took shots of which I am very proud”.
Gianluigi DiNaples. Biographical notes
Born in Puglia in 1962, lives and works in Milan. He has collaborated with Italian and international magazines such as Vanity Fair, Vogue Gioiello, Flair Living, Max, Zoom International, Mare, Die Zeit, Le Monde 2, Liberation and Corriere della Sera. In 2010 he curated the official image of the 2010 Work in Progress Tour, the exceptional reunion of singer-songwriters Lucio Dalla and Francesco De Gregori. In 2011 and 2012 he was the official photographer of Francesco De Gregori's Pubs and Clubs Tour, of Pubs and Clubs Live @ The Place of which he also made the cover of the CD and of the 2012 Factory Tour. In 2009 he was nominated at The International Colors Award, in 2008 he was semi-finalist at The Hasselblad Masters Award, in 2008 he obtained the Gold Award at the National Gold Ink Awards for the Fontegraphic Calendar. In 2006 he created the official image and the stage photos of Pippo Delbono's show Questo darkness ferocious. In 2004 he produced with Cirque du Soleil the photographic exhibition In the heart of Saltimbanco which became the traveling institutional exhibition of the Saltimbanco show, which remained on display for two months at the Supper Club in Rome and more than three months at the Atelier Renault on the Champs-Elysées in Paris. Recently he has started directing videos and book trailers; the trailer for the book Jesus and the end-of-season sales was awarded first place in the Mediastars Award 2011 category. Gianluigi Di Napoli has also published two books of his photographs, Circus Life – Everynight, all around the World (Ed. Stemmle, Zurich ), a tribute to circus people and A Poet in Action (Ed. Damiani, Bologna), an anthology of images dedicated to David Larible, for years defined by the press as the greatest living international clown.
AIPI, the Italian Pulmonary Hypertension Association, was established in 2001 by a group of patients suffering from Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension being treated at the Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Diagnosis and Therapy Center of the S. Orsola Polyclinic in Bologna in order to promote contact and solidarity among patients, to improve the psychological, physical and social well-being of patients through forms of personal, organizational and economic support, to promote the dissemination of scientific information on the disease, research both by promoting patient collaboration and dedicating any economic resources for study projects and collaboration with other similar national and international associations.
AIPI, chaired by Pisana Ferrari, has its operational headquarters in via G. Vigoni 13, in Milan. AIPI has over 1200 members, including 900 patients.
MASKS 2016. FEDERICA PELLEGRINI for AIPI – Triennale di Milano (viale Alemagna 6) – 12 – 27 November 2015 Free admission – Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10.30–20.30. Monday closed
Photo Gianluigi Di Naples 2015
