Vital Impacts Shines at the 14th Festival della Fotografia Etica: A Celebration of Environmental Photography and Change-Making
Vital Impacts is excited to announce our exhibit at the 14th edition of the Festival della Fotografia Etica opened today. The festival runs September 30 through October 29, 2023.
Vital Impacts’ exhibit is a part of the In-depth Analysis Area of the Festival, set both indoors and outdoors. The outdoor portion of the exhibit will take place in the public gardens of the city of Lodi, Italy, southeast of Milan. It will display the work of the many talented and diverse photographers recognized in the Vital Impacts Environmental Grant and Mentoring program, launched to support and encourage visual storytellers to create long-term documentary photography projects with local communities who are working to protect the environment and wildlife.
The grant has resulted in two winners, six honorable mentions and 50 mentorships awarded. In this exhibit you can walk through the projects of all of these photographers whose work is contributing to shine a light on the planet and what we can all do to preserve it.
Both of the Vital Impacts Environmental Grant winners, Musuk Nolte and Tailyr Irvine, will have their works highlighted in the exhibit. Nolte’s art strives between documentary and artistic photography to approach social issues, such as memory and environmental depredation. Irvine’s focuses on providing in-depth representations of the lives and complex issues within the diverse communities that make up Native America.
Other works to be displayed include Ingmar Björn Nolting’s visual anthology of climate advocacy in Germany, Fatma Fahmy's exploration into the deterioration of Lake Qarun and how it affects the community, and much more.
The indoor aspect of the exhibition will be held in the ex-Church dell'Angelo, featuring a collection of exclusive photographs that expand our understanding of the natural world—including our place in it - from 40 different “masters of nature and environmental photography.” Photos by change-makers like Jimmy Chin, Evgenia Arbugaeva, Paul Hart, and many more were specially curated by Ami Vitale, Vital Impacts’ founder.
Additionally, we will be projecting the works of our grant and mentorship recipients above the altar of the ex Church, as well as other films and images from Vital Impacts’ collections. The exhibit embodies Vital Impacts’ mission, “to use photography to transcend language and create empathy, awareness and understanding across cultures; to help us see that the survival of the planet is intertwined with our own survival.”
The Festival della Fotografia Etica features 20 different exhibitions and over 700 photographs captured by photographers from 40 countries and 5 continents. Director of the Festival, Alberto Prina, asserts that each piece of artwork displayed tells "unique stories, exciting and necessary.” From dramatic depictions of the devastation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, to informative accounts of intense escapes from North Korea, the Festival della Fotografia Etica hopes to leave photography enthusiasts “reflective and amazed.” Vital Impacts is proud to be included as one of the many change-making organizations at the Festival della Fotografia Etica.
The Festival is also known for its incredible educational program for learners of all ages. For more than 10 years, they have provided innovative “tools to better understand the contemporary world” to primary, middle, and high school students, “deepening their cultural, artistic and linguistic knowledge,” bringing thousands of students through the exhibits over the course of the festival.
They also hold guided tours in various languages, themed workshops for all ages, and even training courses for teachers. We hope to help students imagine a future career that will benefit the planet and broaden their knowledge of the world - just like the Festival has done for over a decade.
For more information on how to visit Vital Impacts’ exhibit, visit the Festival della Fotografia Etica.
Cover image and first image are from last year's exhibit. Photos by Musuk Nolte and Ami Vitale.