SP hosts photographic exhibition on Mediterranean islands

The Italian Institute of Culture of São Paulo (IICSP) presents, from May 23 to July 31, the exhibition "Archipelago. Island Cultures", by Italian photographer Corinna Del Bianco. With free admission, the exhibition brings together 44 photographs and a video that document the deep relationship between island communities in the Mediterranean and their natural environments.

According to a statement from IICSP, the project highlights the resilient culture of these populations, "who knew how to adapt to adverse conditions such as water scarcity, extreme winds and arid terrain, developing a harmonious and productive coexistence with nature".

"The exhibition investigates historical practices of land use, agriculture, fishing and extractive activities, as well as contemporary challenges related to tourism and resource management," says the note, which cites as an example images portrayed on the island of Pantelleria, in Sicily, southern Italy, with "its 'heroic' agriculture and the traditional cup pruning of the vine", recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

For the director of IICSP, Lillo Teodoro Guarneri, "these photos help us rediscover another, more authentic way of living.

They testify to the existence of a different balance between human activity and its surroundings, conceiving them as a unicum, rather than separate entities."

"I hope that the exhibition will bring about a reflection on what should be reconquered, maintained and valued from the artisanal culture and modus vivendi of our past in Italy and Brazil, the latter rich in ancient and varied cultural traditions, the fruit of its European roots, but also and above all, African and Amerindian ones", says Guarneri.

The exhibition is held in collaboration with the São Paulo Photography Festival and takes place within the scope of the Festival Cidade da Cultura. In addition, "Arquipélago" is also part of the 2005 UNESCO Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, being a long-term documentation project, started in 2018, with an expected duration of 50 years.