Beauty in Hell. A personal photographic project that started two years ago. The project objective is to find and document the beauty present in some of the most difficult, poverty stricken and dangerous realities around the world. Here two of the largest slums in Nairobi: Mathare and Kibera.
These slums are places where it is not only difficult to enter, but where it is risky to walk around. Places where people have almost nothing and where a dollar makes the difference for the day. Shocking and incredible places where only a strong sense of community and solidarity gives these people the strength to carry on, one day after another. Places where there is little or no running water and where the cumulative sewage of hundreds of thousands of people flows through open ditches. Where shelters are made of metal scraps and pieces of wood, which catch fire every now and then. The smell and the stench enters your bones and permeate your heart.
The desire to show the beauty in these places is born as a critical and personal artistic response to an increased awareness of living within a system that uses drama everywhere. I believe we are now unconsciously accustomed to consider an event interesting and noteworthy only if it contains some form of strong contrast, therefore if it is dramatic. Without drama everything becomes boring, dull and not worthy of our time. In simple terms we tend to use drama to make sensationalism.
With "Beauty In Hell" I am trying to express, through artistic sensibility, exactly the opposite and show that also within these extremely hard situations beauty is always present… that the beauty inside the human being is present everywhere, even in places that could only be described as real life circles of Dante's Inferno.
Awards AWARDS
• HIPA (Hamdan International Photography Award) 2013 (Dubai) – Shortlisted Finalist – Street Life Category, 2014
• LensCulture Portrait Awards 2014 (UK) – Shortlisted Finalist – Documentary Single Image Category, 2014
• LensCulture – Contemporary Photography 2014 (UK) – Selected as Editor’s Pick – Documentary Category, 2014
• The Allard Prize Photo Competition for International Integrity 2013 (Canada)- 1st prize, 2013
• International Street Photography Challenge 2013 (New York) – 2nd position, 2013
• TBM “Open Portfolio Contest – 2014” (Richmond – Texas) – Winner Individual Image Merit Award, 2014
EXHIBITIONS / PUBLICATIONS
• Solo Exhibition in conjunction with La Biennale di Venezia 2013 – Bangladesh Pavillion
• Presentation/Exhibition at Palazzo Cusani - “Beauty In Hell” Project – Milan 2013
• Published on HIPA (Hamdan International Photography Award) Annual Photo Book - 2013 (Creating the Future) – Dubai
• Published online by National Geographic – The daily dozen
• Witness Journal (N.58) - Official Selection
