Photo: © Federico Sutera
Photographing the Lagoon: the Venetian Struggle for a Sustainable Future
Venice is the city of the future… Ideally. An enchanting maze surrounded by sea; an artificial island built on water and governed by its natural rules, high and low tides. A city that still maintains its original structure on a human scale, entirely pedestrian. No cars, no bicycles, you can either walk or jump on a public water bus, sail on your private ship or your friends’ one, or pay a water taxi driver or a gondolier to guide you through the canals of this ancient and uncanny metropolis. While having a stroll through the Venetian calli (streets) on the one hand, you have the undeniable feeling of being surrounded by palazzi (palaces), squares, bridges and monuments impregnated with history, and, on the other hand, you might have the perception of exploring, secretly and silently, a parallel dimension, futuristic and eclectic.
The splendour of the golden age is prominent and despite its undeniable and fascinating decadence, Venice is still one of the most important cities, a cultural point of reference worldwide. However, nowadays, more than ever, Venice has an uncertain destiny. The old town has an everyday decreasing population of 57 thousands inhabitants and draws 30 million tourists per year. Understandably, everybody wants to be in Venice, at least once in their lifetime and at least for one day. Tourism is a very important industry for Venice and, more than in every other place in the world, needs to be managed in a sustainable, ecological and constructive way. Otherwise, this marvellous city is at serious risk.
In the past years, concern increased among Venetians and among people who care for the future of this city, with reference to some aspects of mass tourism and in particular to cruise ships entering the lagoon. An ever-increasing social movement of Venetians started to raise its voice, among them environmentalists, academics, journalists, photographers and people working in the tourism sector itself. The main common point of interest connecting a plurality of people seems to be: the cruise ships should remain out of the lagoon.
Raising awareness about the 'big ships issue' is fundamental for the future of Venice, according to Silvio Testa, journalist and activist of the Venetian social movement Comitato No Grandi Navi (“Committee No Big Ships”). Mr. Testa is the author of two booklets denouncing, on the basis of a considerable number of reliable sources, the high risks of allowing giant ships to enter Venice. “Pollution, erosion of the sea bottom, dangerous hydrodynamic effects, possible accidents and much more… The lagoon has a fragile ecosystem that needs to be carefully safeguarded”, he states with a worried glimpse on his face. The lagoon of Venice is Venice itself, its heart.
Recently, a group of photographers have shown their dissent through their images as part of the first public event promoted by “Awakening”, an international photographers collective. In December 2014, eight large images - four meters by three - of cruise ships crossing the lagoon were displayed in the streets of Venice. The aim of Awakening is to focus mainly on social news, to showcase images in large formats in the streets for free in order to sensitize - “wake up”- passers-by. Public spaces are not damaged, only water based adhesives are used and images are displayed mainly on scaffolds. Photo agencies are also involved in the distribution of the images, among them is Getty Images. However, Awakening projects are solely funded by the photographers of the collective, in order to maintain complete independence.
Marco Secchi, photojournalist and spokesperson of the collective explains that: “Awakening was founded in the UK in 2013 and then moved to Italy, to Venice, Milan, Rome and Genoa. Several photographers are Venetians, that is why we started from Venice. Furthermore, Venice is an incredible cultural hub, anything that is done in Venice is very international and raises straight away an international interest. We would like to raise awareness, experimenting new ways of doing photojournalism, using large photo formats displayed in urban spaces as a new way of having an impact in society”. He points out that “images are accompanied with a short text that includes some information, but the text is as neutral as possible because the image should speak for itself and each person is free to draw the conclusions”.
Federico Sutera - photographer, contributor to the Awakening project, and co-founder of Isolab - a centre for photography research in Venice - remarks that he likes the idea of bringing images that deal with important social, political, cultural, and educational issues to a wide public. “It’s a slap in the face” he says “I believe that, nowadays, images should not only be printed, gathered and showed within the four walls of an exhibition space for few interested people. Photography can have a significant role in raising awareness through periodical, magazines and newspapers. Then, why not sharing big format images in public spaces?”. In fact, the photographs lasted for months in the Venetian streets and squares - a few are still even visible today after one year. Thanks to them, people from very different backgrounds seemed to have a very strong positive reaction, embracing the cause. Every day more people are themselves documenting and sharing information, taking part of social movements fighting for a sustainable future of the Venetian lagoon.
Furthermore, the internationally renowned photographer Gianni Berengo Gardin has also denounced the alarming Venetian situation with photographs he took between 2012 and 2014. An exhibition with some thirty works entitled “Venezia e le grandi navi” (Venice and Big Ships) was held at the Negozio Olivetti in Saint Mark’s Square (22 October 2015 - 10 January 2016). This exhibition was planned to be held at the Doge’s Palace, however the recently elected right-wing major of Venice has decided to forbid and censor it. This unhappy decision aroused several criticisms worldwide and ironically helped reinforce the important debate with reference to gigantic cruise ships transiting in the Venetian Lagoon. According to Maestro Berengo Gardin “photography should document reality and be a tool to change the world. These monsters visually plunder my Venice”, he says with a low and hoarse voice, “these photographs are scary and upsetting. They seem to be the result of a photomontage. It is hard to believe that they correspond to reality. But there is no trick, they are true”.
Venice and Venetians are not sinking. This splendid island and its inhabitants, although rare species in extinction, can still be saved from a tragic end and a Disneyland destiny, so much prophesied by pessimists. Venice and its lagoon are miraculous, a complicated and fragile natural, social and cultural system that needs to be preserved with compatible policies, meaningful actions and conscious tourism.
An edited version of the article was published on Parallel