Icelandscapes

Piazza Antonio Gramsci – Cinisello Balsamo (MI) from December 15th 2007 until January 31st 2008

Exhibition

“ICELANDSCAPES – Landscapes of Iceland” is a photographic exhibition by Fabiano Ventura, featuring a selection of previously unpublished shots taken by the photographer during the 2007 summer season as part of a reportage on the island. The purpose of the exhibition is to stimulate in viewers a desire to preserve the beauty, harmony and fragility of the Iceland landscapes, molded by the forces of nature in a unique and surprising way. Situated on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, and just south of the Arctic Circle, geologically speaking Iceland is quite a young country, and unique on earth. Due to a constant intense volcanic activity and the Gulf Stream bringing warm water and air, it sports a relatively mild climate considering its latitude. Also, because of airstreams of different temperatures that clash in the area, there is a great deal of precipitations, making this windswept island surprisingly verdant. Ten percent of the island is covered by icecaps which are in a precarious state of equilibrium due to subglacial volcanic activity: in fact, many volcanic cones are filled with ice, causing vast meltwater floods during eruptions, the so-called jökulhlaup in Icelandic, that invade the sandur, the vast wastelands beneath. Volcanic activity is so intense that much of the island is covered in lava. Because of the difficult, often extreme, living conditions and the uneasy natural balances, on this fascinating island the population has always remained low. Most of it is actually uninhabited, which has enabled nature to reign supreme and uncontaminated. Given the extent of this wilderness, the best way to see Iceland is from the sky. When seen from a plane, this country slowly shows its abstract and perfect geometrical shapes, with patterns and textures of a striking beauty, in a fashion that we usually meet in the microcosm. Iceland’s natural ecosystems are now being seriously threatened by global warming, and if nothing is done soon it will suffer irreparable damages, which will seriously affect the water cycle, the primary life source of the biosphere and thus of humanity. Since we are the main source of this imbalance, it is absolutely essential that we commit to a sustainable lifestyle and develop a heightened sense of respect for and of belonging to the earth. It is his true hope that these photographs will illustrate the uniqueness of Iceland, where nature has molded the earth into fascinating shapes and forms of awe-inspiring chromatic perfection. It is the only place where we can come into immediate contact with the immense forces that have sculpted the planet and with the delicate bonds that links us to it, bonds that not only nourish us, but also define us. All these things are to be preserved.

Catalogue

64 pagine formato 30×21 cm, con 7 panoramiche su doppia pagina, tutto a colori. Testi di Fabiano Ventura autore della mostra, di Claudio Smiraglia, Professore ordinario di geografia fisica all’Università degli Studi di Milano e di Gu?rún Sigur?ardóttir, responsabile Island Tours.