Earth Day 2020, 6 artists tell the beauty of the Earth

Earth Day today turns 50, a half-century of love and union to save the earth. 

“Mother Earth Day” was born on April 22, 1970, after a huge environmental disaster that caused the death of 10,000 animals: in 1969 a drilling platform in the Santa Barbara canal had caused an oil spill, almost 100,000 barrels of crude oil were poured into Californian waters. Thus the common duty was felt to call the whole world together to awaken consciences and urgently ask for environmental reforms. 

All took to the streets to demonstrate and the rumors reached the peace activist John McConnell, the Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson and the University student Denis Hayes, the trio that sowed the land of Earth Day. On that distant April 22, 1970, around 20 million American citizens responded to the appeal of Democratic Senator Nelson and mobilized in a demonstration in favor of the planet; marches with a “green” motto, conferences dedicated to environmental issues, educational and training messages for empowerment; from then until today, the people are proving sensitive to the cause.

But it is not enough, and now more than ever, closed in our homes to have exploited the environment and nature to our only and selfish advantage (isn’t this pandemic a warning?), we must demonstrate a serious behavioral change and celebrate Earth Day in digital format.

192 other countries around the world will coordinate for the event, scientists are giving us ultimatums with the warning that we will have just over 10 years to halve emissions and avoid the devastating effects of climate change.

Our country has created an exceptional schedule for the day, from Italy Earth Day which will be broadcast on Ray Play from 8.00 to 20.00 on April 22, 2020: 12 consecutive hours in which scientists, journalists, artists, institutional representatives and anyone who wants to participate will exchange tips and messages of hope and deepening in direct streaming.

All viewers will be able to interact via social media and the web platform (https://onepeopleoneplanet.it) using the hashtags of the day #OnePeopleOnePlanet, #CosaHoImparato, # EarthDay2020, #iocitengo, #VillaggioperlaTerra, #focolaremedia.

On the occasion of such an important event, we at Manintown, close and attentive to the theme of sustainability, environmental protection and love for the Earth, have collected a series of images taken by photographers and internationally renowned artists who have told, each with their own unique and recognizable style, the concept of beauty and man/nature relationship. The photographic project aims to be a space, a voice, a help, in line with the world event, aimed at human awareness towards Mother Earth, the womb from which we are born and arms in which we swim our life, a unique, immense gift, and valuable.

Pietro Lucerni 

“I believe that from the human and personal suffering and tragedies that Coronavirus has caused, we should learn. We should (re)learn to listen to the signals that nature sends us. We should be aware of the fact that we are guests on this planet and that we are not the masters and that, as Pope Bergoglio says, “we cannot be comfortable on a planet that is bad.” If we take this opportunity, then we will have a good chance to start again towards a better future for us and our planet”. 

The snowy and icy landscapes of Pietro Lucerni are silent expanses in which nature acts undisturbed, they are desolate and cold views waiting for the light to warm them up.

Mariavittoria Backhaus 

“Beauty was supposed to save the world and instead the world stopped. But nature doesn’t. We are frozen and she goes very fast on an Earth that blooms and grows relentlessly.”

Maria Vittoria Backhaus makes the plants of the earth, still life of stems, buds and leaves in black and white speak, a beautiful negative that waits to be colored and saved by a man.

Maurizio Galimberti 

A photographer known for his landscape and portrait decompositions made of Polaroid, Maurizio Galimberti takes us to deserted cities, made up of silences and headless men, where only the sheets dance freely. They look like the places of Covid-19, desolate nostalgic environments, the result of our imagination, places of memories made even more melancholic by the vintage effect of photography; cars on fire that warn us of the environmental disaster, blurred images as if they were going to vanish at any moment.

Emilio Tini

“Life and beauty can never be separated from real sensitive and deep listening to the world around us.”

This is how Emilio Tini, a fashion photographer who works daily with the human figure, describes his images.

In this series, man and nature are brought into a relationship, in harmonious and complementary coexistence, nature mixes with the body and becomes an extension of an arm, a hand. It is on the face of a woman that flowers bloom, in a complex, natural and essential relationship.

Piero Gemelli

A continuous line that forms two worlds, that of man and woman, which come together in an infinite kiss. This is the world that Piero Gemelli would like; known and unknown worlds that have the common intent to love and respect each other. In the strong image of a naked woman, Piero Gemelli’s heart is made of earth, the one we come from.

Curated by Federico Poletti

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