Tag: culture

David LaChapelle. I Believe in Miracles

Posted on by Redazione MANINTOWN

The large-scale solo exhibition ‘David LaChapelle. I Believe in Miracles, at the MUDEC in Milan, produced by 24 ORE Cultura – Gruppo 24 ORE and promoted by the Comune di Milano-Cultura, is the result of a journey of artistic research lasting a lifetime which presents a previously unseen and, to some extent, surprising David LaChapelle. Over 90 works are displayed – including large formats, site-specific installations and new productions – directly from the artist’s studio, to present his vision of a new world and a potential new humanity.

David Lachapelle celebrities
David LaChapelle, ‘Mary Magdalene: Abiding Lamentation’, 2019 (©David LaChapelle, courtesy of Reflex Amsterdam)

A series of works that are part of the new, visionary phase of LaChapelle

Starting with his early works, the eyes of the public are opened for the first time at the Museum of Cultures to a previously unseen series of works that are part of the new and visionary phase of his output – the last, dated 2022 – the result of the powerful legacy of his lengthy artistic and human experience. With an unprecedented project curated by Reiner Opoku and Denis Curti in partnership with LaChapelle studio, the Museum of Cultures hosts an exhibition itinerary that critically examines the human soul, investigating its various facets of joy, pain, solitude and passion, insecurities  and  ideals. Humankind and its relationship with itself, human beings in the surrounding environment and in society, humankind in nature. A very personal vision that the Mudec has chosen to present by staging this retrospective of the artist, furthering anthropological reflection on the present.

David Lachapelle art photography
‘The Holy Family with S. Francis‘, 2019, Hawaii (©David LaChapelle)
David Lachapelle religion
‘Annunciation’, 2019 (©David LaChapelle)

The exhibition includes over 90 works which unfold in a flowing and captivating narrative, through the artist’s very personal vision of a “gestural” kind of photography; that is, a snapshot of the present while “alert” for the future ahead.

Images that reveal LaChapelle’s vision for a new world

David Lachapelle new world
‘Landscape: King’s Dominion‘, 2013, Los Angeles (©David LaChapelle)
David Lachapelle Lil Kim
‘Lil Kim: Luxury Item‘, 1999, New York (©David LaChapelle)

Starting with works that portray the vulnerability of the planet and the fragility of humankind, together with a repertoire that looks at pop culture and the stars of cinema, music and art, the exhibition winds its way through images that reveal the artist’s vision for a new world. A world that seeks an uncontaminated and luxurious nature where everyone can experience spirituality, love and beauty and where men and women can finally live liberated from alienation and in unity with the natural context.
The exhibition itinerary is a personal journey steeped in memories and sentiment that purposely mixes a non- chronological order with the experiences of a professional and private life which, in the end, prove to be on the same level. New photos have been exhibited for the first time following the challenging experience of the two-year pandemic. They have been conceived in the natural surroundings of Hawaiian forests, where LaChapelle has made his home.

David Lachapelle flowers
‘Heliconia No. 1‘, 2020 (©David LaChapelle)
David Lachapelle nativity
‘Our Lady of the Flowers‘, 2019, Hawaii (©David LaChapelle)

The photos interpret certain passages from the Bible and seem to signify a “change of pace”. His style gradually becomes more intimate and pensive. The settings relinquish, at least partially, the surreal dimension to descend into a more realistic atmosphere.
Less saturated compared to his previous works, the colours invite us to go back in time to reflect on our values and on the need to see also ourselves in a miraculous new world.

David Lachapelle deluge
David Lachapelle deluge
Left: ‘Revelations‘, 2020, Los Angeles; right: ‘After the Deluge: Statue‘, 2007, Los Angeles (©David LaChapelle)
David Lachapelle world
‘Spree‘, 2020, Los Angeles (©David LaChapelle)

Opening image: David LaChapelle, ‘Gas: Shell’, 2012, Hawaii (©David LaChapelle)

New cinema purgatory

Posted on by Redazione MANINTOWN

Once upon a time, there was Italian cinema, that mix of art, commitment, technology, business: a melting pot of writers, intellectuals, enlightened financiers, directors who risked, workers of great ingenuity, who nourished with its works the universal imagination for almost a whole century: the twentieth century.

It is to Italian cinema that we owe the codification of the classic film form with Cabiria in 1914; it’s with Neorealism that the way of telling the reality that Gilles Deleuze called “cinematographic modernity” is born and continues inspiring directors from all over the world; in Italy that we can trace the only example of comedy – “all’ italiana” (Italian Style), precisely – where in the end we cry and die; it’s only in Italian films that such organic research is developed to think about the political character of reality and the images that represent it. It’s here, ultimately, that the reflection on the specific characteristics of a filmic and a national thought is found on their intertwining and their reciprocal influences, along that rippling ridge that defines a cultural system both in its relations with the outside and in its internal components, to the most coherent and continuous extent. And now? Threatened by global streaming platforms, little or nothing helped by the political system, it’s distributed little abroad except in the case of rare, big names that ensure a safe economic return – Nanni Moretti, Paolo Sorrentino, Matteo Garrone, Giuseppe Tornatore, Mario Martone, Paolo Virzì and very few others – which make us fear for its incisive capacity on contemporaneity as instead had happened for the authors’ generation of the last century (a Millennium has also passed).

Ludovico Tersigni | Total look Gucci – Photography Manuel Scrima – Styling Giorgia Canderini

The point is that complaining does not make sense, or even basking in nostalgia for smoky rooms where the light’s beam made fantastic or hyperreal stories live on the screen, according to the usual narration of “it was better before” while the Nuovo Cinema Paradiso has also aged. Punctually, every five

years or so, some critics recover the idea that Italian cinema is experiencing a nouvelle vague: there is talk of a particular Italian and international visibility of the new authors’ generations, of shares’ recovery of receipts of Italian cinema compared to the foreign one, of sudden notoriety of the local stars, etc. The last of these flare-ups of enthusiasm occurred in 2013 with the success of Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty and the appearance of new films by Ozpetek, Bellocchio, and Muccino. Unfortunately, just as punctually, in a season Italian cinema returns to be little visible and unattractive, with an increasingly wide gap between small half-clandestine authorial productions, on the one hand, large distribution circuits on the other.

However it’s interesting, talking to very young actors with a solid professional preparation such as Jozef Gjura, who arrived in Piedmont at the age of six – now he’s 26 and is one of the protagonists of the trilogy “On the most beautiful”, Even more beautiful and More and more beautiful ,the first directed by Alice Filippi, the second and third directed by Claudio Norza –«having grown up with the Italian cinema of the three decades Fifty-Seventy years is a duty, as well as a privilege, to be not actors, but artists who must enter their truth in the part that is assigned to them.

If I hadn’t looked for Antonio’s first films, fallen in love with Gian Maria Volonté, loved Mario Monicelli and many other directors then considered pure entertainment, I probably wouldn’t have taken this path». The myth of Italian cinema resists as a great training ground for unforgettable actors and visionary authors, actors, and directors, now all deceased, while the contribution of values – aesthetic, ethical, narrative – of contemporary Italian cinema is struggling to become significant, though it can also count on new names both for the screenplays and for the direction: I think of the twins Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo, Alice Rohrwacher, Giorgio Diritti, Alessandro Aronadio, Michelangelo Frammartino, Valeria Golino, Sergio Rubini, or Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, actors who have passed on the other side of the camera. It’s they who, in recent years, are somehow redesigning the cartography of national but not local cinematography, able

to support even plots that are not only and simple references to local issues but have a breath and an international creative quality.

The problem is that, as noted by the writer and essayist Gianfranco Marrone on Doppiozero, profoundly changing cinema as the dominant production machine of the media imagination, the theories that try to explain reasons and mechanisms, qualitative paths, and operating systems have also changed. Once there were the big and the small screen whose dimensions distinguished two different media – cinema and television – with different languages, audiences, and contents. Today, everything is intertwined, with extraordinary design and ideational refinements, and every new platform that lends itself to conveying moving images, videos, and audiovisuals must reinvent itself almost from scratch a poetic and an aesthetic, not to mention the forms of narration and figuration. The condition is such that the advent of digital has upset the cards, so that the computer’s funnel constantly redistributes not only what was once the system of fine arts, but also media themselves, led to hybridize euphorically with each other.

But then, does this decadence last or not?

But it isn’t only this, even we no longer have the brave and billionaire producers who bet on “dangerous” directors like Pasolini or Ferreri, but also the matrix that characterizes the history of Italian cinema that has seen four production, linguistic, and consumer models at work: realism, apology, the consumer product, and the “artistic” product. In the perimeter defined by the four poles, two types of movements are played: a vital overlap and contamination between the four models of cinema; an equally vital reworking of models taken from the outside. First, it’s necessary to recall the basic coordinates of the current Italian film system. Starting from the Seventies, the consumption of cinema enters crisis in favor of the television medium; from this crisis, the cinema comes out at the end of the Eighties with a completely renewed scenario: the small local cinemas have now been replaced by multiplexes; the system of first, second and third visions has been replaced by a system in which the success of a film is played out all in the first days of programming.

Jozef Gjura | Shirt Alessandro Gherardi – Knit dress Simon Cracker – Pants MRZ // Total look Angelos Frentzos // Photography Davide Musto – Styling Rosa Maria Coniglio

This opens a gap between produced Italian films and successful Italian films (or simply seen and visible in normal circuits). The production system confirms its fragmented nature: for films production, the help from the State or from the two television giants, Rai and Mediaset, becomes indispensable.

However, it would be wrong to argue that the new scenario implies a break with tradition or a “refoundation” of Italian cinema. On the contrary: precisely this condition of constant uncertainty and vulnerability, stimulates Italian cinema to seek its own identity and specific visibility; hence a firm intention to recover and manage the symbolic resources of one’s past, resources precisely represented by that matrix of characters outlined in the two previous paragraphs.

The result is a cinema that is both modern and ‘ancient’, aware of its late modernity and rooted in its past. The continuous rebirths of Italian cinema confirm that cinema represents one of the main institutions for the construction and reconstruction of our identity.

Perhaps through new languages, stratification of readings, ways of overlapping that reject genres: after all, how much more bitter is there in some films of Italian comedy and even in cinepanettoni and how much, instead, of a fairytale in denunciation films such as “Favolacce dei gemelli D’Innocenzo’’ or “Lazzaro felice” by Rohrwacher?

Text by Antonio Mancinelli

Henry Lloyd-Huges, a British genius for a new Sherlock Holmes

Posted on by Rosamaria Coniglio

Interview: Rosamaria Coniglio

Photographer  Joseph Sinclair

Stylist         Manny Lago

Grooming    Shamirah Sairally

British charm and savoir-faire, highly talented not only in front of the camera but also on the cricket pitch, where he has been spending most of his free time for over 10 years. He has played so many different roles that we do not know exactly which character suits him most. And probably, he has not decided yet, too. When talking about his talent, he prefers not to focus too much on himself. Is this elegant modesty that makes him so special? 

Diesel coat, Religion crew neck sweater

Our country has already appreciated his role of Alfred Lyttelton in the Netflix series “The English game”, set in the time when football was at its beginnings. Between power games and low blows, the first professional football players start succeeding, but not without controversy, arose more by class interests than moral issues. We suggest not missing out on the chance to see him in the shoes of a wealthy businessman who places his self-interests above an apparent strong friendship and a morality that is useful for the conservation of power and social status. However, the real news is his role of Sherlock Holmes in the new Netflix series “The Irregulars”, where you will discover an irreverent and brilliant version, described by Tom Bidwell, very different from what you have watched so far about the most famous detective in the world.

A dystopic version of London, where certainties and values are replaced by horrible crimes and supernatural events, hits a nerve of a society like ours, completely distorted by the pandemic, which has affected every field and has forced us to live a new reality. 

Troubled teenagers are protagonists and victims at the same time, they are manipulated to solve the crimes for Dr. Watson and his mysterious business partner. You have to wait for some episodes to find out what has happened to Sherlock Holmes in the last few years. And this is where the greatness of this character is hidden. He reveals what we have never known about him: his before and after. 

We discover the young, brilliant and ambitious Sherlock, led by the energic impulse of youth and high self-esteem that will be his fortune but also his greatest weakness. What about his maturity? What about the man, emptied by his ego and consumed by guilt, who saw his strengths falling apart? You will find out. And you will also discover all the aspects of a new Sherlock that Henry Lloyd-Hughes will convey through his extraordinary performance. 

Religion sweater

An unexpected psychological perspective is revealed in small doses. Traces of personal elements linked to his character make an act immortal or a romantic gesture extreme through suspense. 

We asked him how difficult it is to show two different sides of such a complex personality: the methodical, witty, and self-confident side and the other one, destroyed by pain and deprived of any motivations. His answer left out his performance, he praised, instead, the great merits of the costume designer and the makeup artist. He is a real gentleman. “We really wanted to push both versions as far as possible and tell the story of someone absent for 15 years. Through the body and the look, with the Oscar-winner Lucy Sibbick and Edward K. Gibbon’s costumes, it has been an emotional experiment to see how far we could push ourselves, making sure that the character would seem the original one”. 

I think his charm lies in the depth with which he can connect with his characters. He confirmed that the aspect of Sherlock that most attracted him was “His vulnerability and his perforated and broken ego.”

The exchange between Henry and his characters is intimate and deep. His great introspective ability can give us a unique version of the detective; from what he tells us, every character goes into his universe in a special way. “It always depends on where the character meets you in your life. You meet a certain character at a certain age and you bring everything you have experienced with that role in your life. At the moment, I’m thinking with affection about my time spent with the character of Sherlock, and something very personal arises. But I’m sure that when I play another character, I will love him in the same way or even more.” 

Diesel coat

Do you want to tell us about some funny moments during the shooting? 

“Yes! We burnt some of the original costumes to create the oldest Sherlock’s clothes. During the shooting, the burnt wool stunk so much that all the other actors started complaining. Moreover, every time I put my hands in the pocket, clouds of soot rose, and I left prints of dirty hands everywhere!”

In the “English Game,” you play the role of one of the best football players of that time. But we know that you have a great passion for cricket and a brand with a two-generation story inspired by this sport: N.E. Blake & Co.

“Sure. It is a great honor for me to continue the family tradition. “Paddy” Padwick was my great-grandfather and an extremely gifted athlete. He turned his passion into a business with “N.E. Blake & Co.” I relaunched it, trying to bring back a classic sporty look focused mainly on cricket. Sometimes it is hard to run a business as well as acting, but honestly, I’m so keen on the classic sporty style that I can’t help it.”

How important were sports in your life?

“Very much. I have been playing in a cricket club for 10 years, the Bloody Lads Cricket Club. Because of Corona Virus, unfortunately, the season was shortened last year. We look forward to getting black to play regularly.” 

 Considering that we don’t want to miss them, what are your future plans on the big screen?

“We are all waiting to know the future of The Irregulars, so this might be my next adventure!”

Have you ever wanted to play a particular role? Someone who reflects your personality or someone so different from you that you feel attracted by him? 

“I would like to do a musical or something very eccentric like the movies of Wes Anderson. I have loved Grand Budapest Hotel so much that I feel perfectly fit in his surreal world, followed by James Bond, of course. 

Henry Lloyd-Hughes in the shoes of Sherlock Holmes in “The Irregulars”
Henry Lloyd-Hughes in the shoes of Sherlock Holmes in “The Irregulars”

Curated by Francesca Romana Riggio

Chef in Town: 5 Italian terroirs among wines, seas, lakes

Posted on by Andrea Betteto

There are places, whose lands, well delimited by the rules of nature, pushed by their background, give life to products of which wine, today more than ever, is the absolute protagonist: terroir.

This term, whose meaning is getting richer and richer, does not directly refer to the climatic connotations insisting on certain parts of the territory or the type of land where the vineyard is located. It involves, rather, the human aspect meant as history, culture, and tradition.

Here is a fascinating and agile guide that touches our peninsula in every cardinal point, suggested by Andrea Frizzarin, well-known Food and Beverage Manager, an expert in territory and eco gastronomy.

LIGURIA

This breathtaking strip of land enclosed between the Apennines and the sea, dotted by mountains and hills, offers a great variety of flavors while keeping traditions in wine. When talking about Liguria, it is necessary to pay attention to Rosato ‘Mea Rosa’ of Lunae winery. It is a rose wine produced with Vermentino Nero grapes, a grape that is almost forgotten and is vinified as rose wine.

The color is the result of the cold maceration for about four hours. The city of Luni, the last strip of land before Tuscany, is still wrapped by its history. In ancient times has been important for different cultures. They find expression, in our days, through the presence of native varieties typically territorial.

TRENTINO ALTO ADIGE – LAKE LEVICO

Lake Levico is for those who love spending time in a pleasant and mysterious atmosphere at the same time, a turquoise pearl located in Trentino Alto Adige. It is enough to hear the region’s name to have the products’ guarantee. The sparkling wine TrentoDoc is the pride of these areas. Only Trentino grapes are used, and they are pampered through a harvest by hand followed by the winery’s process, handed down from generation to generation. The wine worthy of note for its particular aging is Cantina Romanese’s Lagorai TrentoDoc Riserva. Every single bottle is aged for almost two years in the depths of Lake Levico. Here it acquires a very particular aroma.

UMBRIA – LAKE CORBARA

From a lake to another, we meet a place that requires a careful observer to immerse ourselves in a location that seems to have no time, such as the magnificent Umbria. In recent decades has had a considerable development that has led it to be a true oasis of cultural interests and not only. The protagonist of this evolution was also the Lake of Corbara. The River Tiber’s waters are thrown, softened by a series of environmental transformations: a beautiful ecosystem, with protected areas such as the Tiber River Park. The daughter of this land is the Barberini winery and its vines that dominate the Lake. Here the harvest has a slow rhythm. It is said that here wine is an uncompromising identity. The symbolic wine, for its name and history, is the Orvieto Classico Superiore Luigi e Giovanna 2012. It has an intense golden color with strong fruity scents.

PUGLIA – BETWEEN BARI AND TARANTO

Every place in this region is a real paradise. Puglia is among the most desired of our beautiful country. Valle d’Itria, between Bari, Brindisi, and Taranto, is a focal point where it is possible to see the various clothes in this region can wear. Right here, wine lovers meet La Verdeca, a grape variety that owes its name to the greenish color of its berries; its wines offer an olfactory range from flowers to citrus fruits and exotic fruits such as pineapple. Among the most renowned ones, there is Curtirussi Verdeca of Mocavero winery, great exporters of this wine jewel having a fresh and light taste.

CALABRIA – IONIC COAST

“L’amuri è come l’acqua: in calata va, in chianata no”: love is like water: it goes downhill but not uphill. We often use proverbs to give an idea of the popular culture of a land. That explains humanity and historical traditions. Calabria and wine are an assured match, especially if we consider the excellence of one of the most important grapes of the region: Gaglioppo, an autochthonous black berried grape mainly spread in the coastal areas, it is the most common variety in Calabria, and we find it in all red wines, the most significant of which is Cirò red. The Calabrian climate and the peculiarity of the arid soil represent the necessary conditions for this wine. It has an early maturation and high resistance.

The love for this land gave birth to Cantina Ceraudo, which welcomes those who cross the threshold of Contrada Dattilo with the inscription <<Happy is the one who makes others happy>>. It is a sentence that goes beyond the passion for wine and binds everyone to reflect on something that is not only drunk but lived.

Chef in Town- a food and beverage column curated by

Intl Editor Francesca Romana Riggio

Horoscope for March 2021: Stars & Styles

Posted on by Redazione MANINTOWN

Welcome to Stars and Styles, our NEW monthly horoscope appointment, with the guidance of Astro-coach Massimo Giannone, renowned astrologer. Gifted with exceptional sensitivity, he reads with a methodical eye and interprets with the gift of intuition. Giannone has literally conquered the heart of Italy, starting from Milan, the capital of fashion and publishing, with his fixed appointments on Il Sole 24 Ore and Gioia.

His method has also conquered the high-end fashion industry, which has led him to be the protagonist of fashion events and promotional tours throughout Italy for brands such as Maliparmi and Prairie. His approach, far from generic, enters the psychological and soul aspect of the personalities linked to the zodiacal sign, with a perceptive interpretative key that is aimed at providing advice for rebirth, rebuilding.

“Experiences are teachings, if you learn to grasp their directives, your life can change completely” says Massimo Giannone.

Curated by Francesca Romana Riggio

Text by Astro Coach Massimo Giannone

Illustrations by Maria Lombardi

Aries – Everything in our existence seems to come from Chaos. In ancient Greek mythology, it is said that in the beginning was only Chaos, a powerful and malevolent divinity that generated Fate. Erebus was the dark and the Parcae determined the destiny of men from the disorder of these deities. Then, more positive figures were created such as Venus, the goddess of love, Gea, and many others who restored the order. 

Dear Aries friends, to sort out your daily life, you need a path of sharing and union with others, you cannot always do everything yourself. It is necessary to join others to better find solutions, as they say: “unity is strength.”

Love: with the moon in the sign on the 14th of March, you will be able to take the right initiatives and, your spirit, close to the needs of your partner, will help you remedy some situations that do not work in your relationship. Young people will have to avoid isolating themselves to steal someone’s heart, preferring affinity to irony. 

Career: to increase revenue, it will be necessary to create a team. If not possible, try to relate to your loved ones and ask them for advice. Go through with what you start and keep you updated with your job, maybe by attending a specialization course or reading articles about your field.” It is necessary to unite, not to stand together, but to do something together” claimed Goethe, a German writer and playwright.

Your Path: Collaborating with others to pursue an idea, a project, and to achieve a goal helps overcome obstacles. An exchange of opinions with other people allows you to broaden your mind; a sane confrontation simplifies your own path. This is a way to implement your resources through the viewpoint of several people who analyze together the situation by monitoring positive and negative feedback dictated by past experience, thus satisfying not only the personal interest but also the collective one.

Taurus – Dissatisfaction is a useful emotion for people to report something wrong in their paths. It is a warning that suggests changing direction so that you can improve aspects of your daily life.

In the song by Fiorella Mannoia “Fighter”, a part of the melody says:” It’s a rule to be applied in the whole universe/Those who do not fight for something have already lost/ And even though fear makes you tremble/ I have never given up fighting.”This song talks about the positive and negative events that happen to all of us over time; we fight every day to make sense of our life that flows through joy and sorrow while time is rushing by. It is an invitation to look at the future with wisdom and without illusion, and especially an invitation to fight.

Dear Taurus friends, Jupiter and Saturn will bring you some dissatisfaction, not to punish you but to give you new opportunities.

Love: it will be necessary to mitigate your vision and look for new stimuli in your relationship. Try to surprise your partner with an unusual attitude or with a simple smile. This will lead to new situations of harmony and understanding in your relationship. 

Career: don’t let pessimistic thoughts bring you down if work is not going as you’d like. Instead, look for new incentives, try to set your limits, and react by questioning yourself and asking for help from someone who has a clearer view.” Those who are not satisfied with what they have would not be satisfied even if they had what they desire,” said Socrates, a Greek philosopher. 

Your Path: you need to avoid dissatisfaction becoming permanent in your soul, otherwise you will have difficulty in finding new stimuli. If you look into the causes of your disappointment, you can create reactive and benevolent energies, you can eliminate frustration and realize that every obstacle is a means to change and improve yourself. Avoid extreme self-criticism and look at the future that always gives new and positive expectations.

Gemini – A genuine authenticity leads the human being to the truth, in a path where there is no misunderstanding. The truth cannot be the non-truth. 

Oscar Wilde claimed:” Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” However, it is not always easy to be ourselves; in a certain way, our societies impose on us a role that does not allow us to reveal ourselves, so wearing a mask is more convenient.

We should behave as children do: they express their feelings with authentic spontaneity, naivety and curiosity. Authentic individuals let go of negative people, they express what they think clearly and they don’t care if others disagree. They overcome anxiety through their self-confidence and stay true to what they think. 

Dear Gemini friends, your path is not easy, but this is necessary to solve some problems. With the help of Saturn, you will have to let go of what it’s not good for you to become more genuine. 

Love: you will give more space to your partner’s needs, with an attitude based on trust and respect for others’ necessities, discerning good and evil in everything with great authenticity.

Career: a great liveliness, together with your friendly and communicative nature, will help you overcome obstacles, establishing clear boundaries between what you desire and what you can actually achieve. Rewards and earnings are coming. “You will learn at your expense that in life’s long journey you will meet many masks and few true faces,” said Luigi Pirandello, an Italian playwright and writer.

Your Path: a frank attitude leads to paths of evolution, which others might not fully understand, but it will be necessary to obtain a deeper spirit and get rid of what you won’t need anymore, as well. You will replace your old identity with a new one that relies on truth and profundity. Frivolity and negligence will become part of your past. 

Cancer – Being rational means having a logical approach and behaving in a balanced manner to reach specific goals. 

In his studies on cognitive psychology, Herbert Alexander Simon, economist and psychologist, deals with the so-called “Olympic rationality” describing it as if it was made of two contracts, one of which is completed and the other one is not. He uses an image to illustrate the effects: one hand grabbing an object firmly and the other one trembling. If you are determined and have a clear vision, you will grab the object with confidence and determination. 

Dear Cancer friends, this is the path to follow this month. With a great sense of reasoning, it will be necessary to pursue your set goals with determination, being aware of your own means. 

Love: resentment might be a deterrent and spoil the serenity of your evenings. Non-benevolent Pluto does not bring out the best of you. A non-contradictory attitude, together with self-esteem might be the right key to giving balance to your relationship. Be clear and show your interest to those you love. 

Career: You need to be more cooperative and avoid closing yourself off to others’ opinions and views. Try to be generous and unselfish towards your partners and colleagues. You have excellent opportunities to make a profitable investment. “A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open,” claimed Albert Einstein, a German physicist. 

Your Path: If you are determined and have a clear vision, you will grab the object with confidence and determination. Never lose your temper when you do not accept things. Instead, act rationally, maybe not immediately, but with clarity of purpose and determination at the right moment.

Leo – According to Tommaso D’Aquino, it is allowed to tolerate religious diversity because faith is the work of the Divine Grace and, consequently, it’s not up to man to judge. 

Voltaire, a French philosopher and historian, in his treatise on tolerance, describes his vision about freedom of religion, which must be based on respect for others’ ideas and opinions in order to build a civil society.

This is still a current issue. Nowadays, in many parts of the world, “the different one” is being persecuted instead of being integrated into society as an opportunity for dialogue. 

Dear Leo friends, during this difficult phase, owing to Saturn’s opposition and Uranus challenging your tolerance, you will need to revise your attitude. Be leaders, but also humble and, above all, tolerant. 

Love: you will have the chance to restore your relationship with a romantic and selfless attitude. In this way, you will overcome recent misunderstandings, you will find happiness and intimacy with your partner. 

Career: At work, someone or something will get on your nerves. Be tolerant and discuss without judgment, accepting different opinions. In this way, you will be appreciated and obstacles will turn into new beneficial opportunities for you, too. “The golden rule of conduct is mutual toleration, seeing that we will never all think alike and we shall see Truth in fragment and from different angles of vision,” claimed Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian politician, philosopher and lawyer. 

Your Path: It is possible to create a balanced and harmonious environment through respectful behavior towards others’ ideas, even though they are not in tune with yours. Respect and tolerance towards what is different lead to dialogues that can improve our society. 

Virgo – Everyone often faces unclear situations. Emotions can be a strong deterrent to your behavior; doubts and perplexities push you to react impulsively when instead you should meditate wisely and let time give you a chance to get back to certainty and clarity. 

In a song by Carmen Consoli, “A plastic love”, she talks about the renunciation of an inconsistent love. A part of the melody says:” I wanted to be stronger than all your doubts, but I can’t settle for it if all you can give me is a plastic love“. Let’s not settle, let’s overcome our uncertainties even though they might lead to a loss. 

Dear Virgo friends, this phase will be characterized by great fragility and a sense of helplessness that could make you react unproperly. 

Love: excessive stress can lead you to isolate yourself from your partner. This might be useful, but only if it is without anger and silence. Instead, explain your needs. Be patient and sympathetic. 

Career: you need to lighten the load. It is okay to have your own responsibilities, but you need to give yourself time and focus on your needs. Thanks to your tenacity, you will achieve excellent results.” The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt“, said Bertrand Russel, a philosopher. 

Your Path: Everyone often faces unclear situations. Emotions can be a strong deterrent to your behavior; doubts and concerns push you to react impulsively when instead you should meditate wisely and let time give you a chance to get back to certainty and clarity. I think that true love is the solution to many afflictions. Donating gives comfort to the soul even more than receiving. 

Libra – Myth and philosophy tend to explain what surrounds us through observation and reasoning. While the first one sticks to a description, an association with a deity, philosophy tries to go deeply into the truth and understand it through critical analysis.

In a song by Louis Armstrong “What a Wonderful World”, the singer observes the beauty that surrounds us, reflects on the meaning of life and the diversity of humankind and tries to give hope to the future. In a part of the song he describes the world like this: ” I see skies so blue and clouds so white. The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night. And I think to myself: what a wonderful world.” These beautiful lyrics convey the beauty of everything and give a little hope at this time of great social difficulties. 

Dear Libra friends, with favorable Jupiter and Mercury, your phase turns out to be full of opportunities. However, you have to think carefully about the best way to go. 

Love: This moment turns out to be very positive to clear away the cobwebs and the bad mental intentions of your recent past. Through a lightness of mind and attention to the needs of those who love you, you can reach peaks of harmony and stability.

Career:  youwill be able to dose clearly between personal and business needs. A careful vision of what you really need will definitely lead to rewards and earnings. Perhaps review your work several times so every detail will be successful. “Learning without reflection is a waste. Reflection without learning is dangerous“, said Confucius, a Chinese philosopher. 

Your Path: being conscious leads to a high level of maturity in dealing with any daily occurrence. Pondering and reflecting helps you have the right view by adopting the best behavior. Like a wave propagating through different means, reflecting helps you change direction towards more appropriate destinations. A soul lights up through the understanding of the dynamics that surround us. 

Scorpio – Who among us does not have vices? It is easy to look at those of others and judge. Sometimes a simple word can hurt the other person. It is always necessary to weigh your words before you speak to avoid harming yourself and others, understanding that words are powerful, for better or worse. Understanding what we do educates us to respect, not to want to do to others what we do not want to be done to us. This is a pearl of fundamental wisdom because it lays the foundations for a better world. 

In the myth, Mercury, the messenger of gods, was willing to lie in order to get anything. But it is also said that he separated two snakes that were fighting, making peace between them. There is a double aspect of the same myth, sometimes the wise prevailed, other times the scoundrel like it is in each of us: a struggle between a positive polarity and a negative one. Only through the right word that is said to the soul, you choose the best way.

Dear Scorpio friends, saying the right word to your soul will be the way to follow. This time turns out to be favorable, but you need to control everything you do and analyze it carefully before making any decision. 

Love: with favorable Pluto and Neptune, you can enjoy pleasant news, but you need to put an end to your past that still afflicts you, because you think you did not deserve such a treatment. Live for today and tomorrow and forget any rivalry that might make you miss the opportunity to experience something new. 

Career: at work, with a clear vision of your task management, you will be able to share and give advice to people around you with the right word at the right time. This will lead you to receive support from your colleagues. This is a great time to make investments. “We are the masters of our silence, we are slaves of our words” claimed Sigmund Freud.

Your Path: Who among us does not have vices? It is easy to look at those of others and judge them. Sometimes a simple word can hurt the other person. It is always necessary to weigh your words before you speak to avoid harming yourself and others, understanding that words are powerful, for better or worse. Understanding what we do educates us to respect, not to want to do to others what we do not want to be done to us. This is a pearl of fundamental wisdom because it lays the foundations for a better world.

Sagittarius – The young Hemingway describes Milan as the romantic city par excellence. As a matter of fact, when he was still unknown, he had joined the army, but having had eyesight problems, he was recruited as a driver of the Red Cross. On one occasion, he was injured and had to recover at the hospital, where he fell in love with a nurse. He had such feelings for her that when he wrote to his parents to tell them about Milan, he also talked about Agnes, his great love, which remained only platonic.

Every feeling remains engraved in our soul and, even though we do not experience it, it leads us to a dream state that leaves important marks in our life’s story. 

Dear Sagittarius friends, despite Mars’ opposition, you will be highly prone to romanticism, an emotional force that will make you feel alive. You will have to capture the intensity of these moments, without wondering what happens next.

Love: You will escape conventional limits to experience something rousing out of the traditional standards of living. Aside from overwhelming passions, you will also find some obstacles. 

Career: At work, having this romantic side will help you look at things from a different angle. You can also turn difficulties into challenges to overcome. With such feelings, everything becomes possible. It is a state of grace that makes every chance achievable. How wonderful to live with romantic feelings! The reason is contrasted with an emotion that stimulates new professional paths. Be strategic but also passionate and romantic. 

“Romanticism is what touches sensitivity and invites her to emotion,” said Atsuro Tayama, a Japanese designer. 

Your path: a sentimental world, where the soul is dreamy, arouses an enchanted reality in people. You observe the details and the beauty of nature; you look forward to reliving your encounters that have evoked this state of mind. Live every single moment without wondering why. 

Capricorn – In mathematics, a surface is a geometric shape that has only two dimensions, without thickness, it can be limited or unlimited. In law, those who own a piece of land also own what is on it unless they make concessions creating two estates. In life, it is important to go beyond the surface: you have the chance to face problems and, through a good analysis, you see the pros and cons of everything. 

Dear Capricorn friends, it’s time to go beyond the surface. You already have a profound spirit; your seed symbolizes a seed in the ice, an apparent death that is full of life. You will find a way to overcome fears and perplexities through a clear dialogue. 

Love: Uranus stimulates your inner self; passions will be more intense if you open the door of your heart. Your originality will help you, but you need to make an effort and accept others’ limits.

Career: at work, you will be talented and quick to take the opportunities given to you. Instead of making too many commitments, you should undertake tasks you enjoy so that every challenge will spur your creative flair.  “When I got to this place, the land was shapeless and empty; the darkness covered the seabed, the spirit of God rose to the surface,” said Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese philosopher.

Your Path: Going deep is a journey that many people fear. However, it is an attitude that helps you deal with life differently, beyond your scars. It connects you with others and gives you the chance to understand them and yourself because the path that provides the answers is in the dialogue with others and not in a self-closure. Trusting others opens a new dimension where perceptions are better and allow you to find new harmonies. 

Aquarius – In the song “Heroes” David Bowie describes how everyone can be a hero, even just for one day. “I will be king/ And you will be queen/ Though nothing will drive them away/ We can beat them, just for one day/ We can be heroes, just for one day.” A story of an impossible love during the Berlin Wall’s existence, two lovers separated by the wall challenging two conflicting powers and risking their lives for love.

Dear Aquarius friends, with Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn in the sign, you will have the right motivation to follow new paths in your life. The cycles that conclude are not always easy and they seem to have no end but thanks to your determination, bravery and the right motivation you will set out to a renewal, which will lead you to overcome the loneliness of your soul. 

Love: many people of the sign have ended an important relationship or have experienced tensions that are not easy to deal with. At last, the stars will be favorable to the birth of a new love or to the overcoming of misunderstandings between the couple. Even your friendships will be renewed with great and new people you will meet.

Career: with unfavorable Uranus during this phase, avoid being impulsive. You can put an end to your dissatisfactions through a new motivation, which will lead you to make the most of your resources. “We do not know a truth without knowing its cause,” claimed Aristotle, a Greek philosopher. 

Your Path: many factors push people towards goals in different spheres of everyday life. However, if you do not have the right motivation you risk taking the wrong path. Obstacles, pain and stress often take your motivation away and you will feel apathetic, unable to act on yourself. What to do? First and foremost, you need to avoid pleasing others and analyze in depth what makes you feel good. Try to do what you like with high control of yourself, thus overcoming fears that do not allow you to believe in your success. 

Pisces – Anxieties and worries change our behavior, they lead us to restlessness and prevent us from being objective. 

Alda Merini, an Italian poetess, said:” I am very unquiet when I am tied to space“, this is the suffering caused by a reality with boundaries and limits that can not be crossed. 

The challenges in life are never easy to face. For each of us, our own problem is the biggest to solve, we no longer sleep peacefully, we are upset about it, and bad thoughts often invade and fill us with negative energies. 

Dear Pisces friends, with Mercury and Saturn in the sign, you will have enough energies to deal with an anxious state of mind caused by your tendency to take too many responsibilities, even not yours. 

Love: Uranus will help you unblock the situation of instability with your partner or your differences of opinion. Don’t feel overwhelmed and try to make the qualitative leap you need, maybe by giving each other your own responsibilities. This is a happy phase for the young people of the sign: exciting meetings are coming. 

Career: at work, you will have to go beyond your usual attitude. Avoid accumulating tensions and say what you think but with great understanding. New professional experiences are coming, don’t hold back. “Restlessness and impatience are two diseases and both of them shorten life“, said Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian philosopher. 

Your Path: First, you need to understand precisely what is bad for you and find a new inner attitude. There is a remedy for everything. You can achieve peace also with the help of breathing techniques, meditation, yoga. But if you are highly stressed you need to ask for help, without hesitation. 

100 word-class photographers team up to grapple against racism

Posted on by Chidozie Obasi

100 world-class photographers from around the world have teamed up to take part in a fundraiser for various anti-racism organisations. Names including Wolfgang Tillmans, Martin Parr and Renell Medrano have all donated work, along with emerging trailblazers including the likes of Joshua Woods, Kai-Isaiah Jamal and Benjamin Huseby, creative director of GMBH. 

Each photographer involved has contributed images from their archives, with each print priced at £100 GBP (approximately $125 USD). The organisers behind the Anti-Racism Photography Fundraiser have also added that there will be a series of special announcements regarding artist editions in the near future. 

In a statement launching the fundraiser, the project’s organisers said, “Racism is a deeply Racism is a deeply rooted British issue. As the Black Lives Matter movement continues to lead the fight for equality, the decision to operate under the banner of Anti-Racism is a call for the creative world, and the world at large, to fight racism everywhere it exists, while empowering the organisations and charities already doing this work.”

Take a look through some of the editions that will be available in the gallery above and visit the Anti-Racism Photography Fundraiser site for more information. All proceeds minus production and shipping costs will be donated to The Black Curriculum, Black Minds Matter and Exist Loudly.

Open Invitation

Posted on by Redazione MANINTOWN

To all who have expressed outrage, disgust, anxiety, empathy, or bewilderment at how this crisis in social justice can be our reality in 2020, I ask you to take some time and call a friend, colleague, a mixed race relative—someone who is black or looks black—and have a real conversation with them. 

During this conversation, ask them what it is like for them day to day as a citizen in American society, what their experiences have been as it pertains to racism.

This is not likely to be a five-minute conversation. But if you really care to understand, if you really want to fix this problem, if you really want the protests to bring sweeping change, if you really want to make a change in society for the better, you need to start with an understanding of what it is like to be black in America.

Racism in America permeates all aspects of life: from the first time your teacher embarrasses you in front of your entire school class, the shop owner that follows you in a magazine store and tells you that you need to leave the store when, momentarily, you have been separated from your parents, to the joyous experience of receiving your first driver’s license that is quickly being intruded on by “the conversation”. 

This is when your parents sit you down to discuss what you must and must not do if you are ever pulled over by the police. This is our reality as young people, as adults and as parents. 

Resources (mappingpoliceviolence.org, killedbypolice.net, fatalencounters.org and the U.S. Police Shootings Database) suggests that since 2015, unarmed black people in America have been killed by police at a rate of between a low of 1 every 3.5 days to a high of 3 a day.

The risks and disadvantage continue throughout life, regardless of education or economic status: in corporate America, in the jobs you were overlooked for or never promoted to, despite being overqualified and performing at a level that is multiples above your counterparts’ performance. That’s another conversation black parents have with their children, in order to compete, you have to be at least twice as good. 

That is the requirement when you are black in America.

Many of you reading this will ask why black professionals in any field have a difficult time showcasing these racism issues, and the reason is not because we have not pointed them out, it is because white people are looking for a plausible answer such as “there must have been something wrong with the business model.” 

The problem is exacerbated when agencies and corporations look to remove individuals who have been uncovered as racially biased and have become an embarrassment and liability to the company, but the lack the courage or will to fire them for fear of being brought into a wrongful termination suit. Instead, racist elements are “failed up” the corporate/municipal ladder because it is easier to promote someone up and out of the way than to terminate them. So, the racists win by garnering additional power to stop progress on other transactions, and potentially becoming a hindrance in the same transaction again at some point in the future.

What is needed at this time is white American to stop running from this issue, and stop running from your privilege because it what we need from our allies and counterparts that will help us deal with racism. White America’s incredulous, and historic knee-jerk response has become cliché among African Americans: “How do you know it is racism?” “Come on, there has to be a reason besides that.” “There has to be a fundamental underwriting issue.” Actually, there are no problems with our projects, our deals pencil out with great returns so your credit committee needs to be questioned, we solve problems when other falter, we must not fail because we are not given a second chance, so how do we know it is racism. It is racism because our white counterparts that have the same issues are able to finance their transactions, are held in the highest esteem, and revered as hero’s while we are not treated the same. Racism hides inherently in the shadows of this very line of questioning and is exactly what those in deep denial would want you to embark on, a line of questioning because there is no definitive answer that will satisfy them, and this is how the racists win their position: They make it incumbent upon logical people to question the experience, and to look for logical responses within illogical patterns of facts that do not constitute an answer as it pertains to a particular situation. Again, the reason for this is right in front of you. It always has been. It’s racism. 

If we are serious about our intentions and truly want social change for the better, know that it will only come when our white counterparts resolve to stand beside us, fighting to root out racism across the spectrum. The change will not be complete or permanent or totally secure if we only address this cancer in isolated sectors while allowing it to incubate and spread from others. The net positive effect of real change will be the overturning of hundreds of year of the norm in our society and supplanted by a new, inclusive societal norm that works toward the betterment of all.

It is frustrating to hear intelligent people say to me, “You didn’t experience racism,” or “You have been successful,” with judgment in the unstated but implied question, why haven’t others? Success and money do not thwart the experience driven by the racists. But it is not obvious to those on the outside that success for black Americans is achieved despite and in the face of racism; it comes by having successfully jumped every hurdle put in your path and the ability to still kept pace with your white counterparts who have no such hurdles because of a skin color. Our successes have come with unnecessary interference, additional tests and obstructions that limit, delay which diminish those successes. However the silver lining is these successes also come from assistance from the white allies that have been quiet fans of our work, our insight and tenacity that together we have pushed to make our projects work.

Racism is increasingly blatantly obvious and on public display in the killings George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, far too many to name more than a few; in the sodomizing and dehumanization of Abner Louima with a policeman’s nightstick; in the railroading and incarceration of The Central Park 5; in the tens if not hundreds of thousands killed before cell phones were available to tell a story. But it also resides in voter suppression redlining, housing discrimination, healthcare disparities, job-application codes, property tax-based education, food deserts, predatory lending, corporate diversity, access to capital, the judicial system, government hoops that only black people have to jump through—every aspect and facet of life in which black people’s existence is challenge, where the same existence for white people is not. The effect of financially killing black business leaves not just families impoverished, but whole communities exiled from opportunity, initiative, with hope diminished, examples of community success exterminated and dreams and prayers left as a vague reminder of what used to be generations ago. Ultimately leaving those individuals trapped in those communities with little chance to financially excel or ability to grow within the communities. The black people you now see marching, protesting, venting their collective frustration, crying out for a little room to breathe in nation that is suffocating us all with its unrelenting racism are not just asking you to stop killing us physically in the street, they are also looking for relief from the choking off of access and opportunity across all platforms within the corporate and finance markets. 

Economic opportunity and access are as important and necessary to life as freedom from threat of physical harm. Stop it. Stop killing us quickly with bullets and chokeholds and stop choking us slowly with systemic biases baring us from full participation on an equal footing. This is the fix society must strive for. This is my answer to all those who out of ignorance ask why back Americas aren’t more successful, why aren’t we producing more? Get you knee off our necks—physically, financially and metaphorically in every way. Make the playing field level and you would see a thriving and exciting segment of society that looks nothing like the derivations of poverty in the images popularly circulated to illustrate a particular narrative. 

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my world, the world of 40 million black people in the United States and hundreds of millions more over the last 400 years now gone. Enough is enough. The time has come, is long overdue in fact, for a real conversation and an overhaul. Pick up the phone and ask us about our experience, what the world of tens of millions of us is like, what it is like to be in our shoes. This is a unique time in American history, affording an opportunity and maybe even a desire to finally fix what has been plaguing our society since its founding. The fix will require us to work together to create a protocol across industry, (Policing, Banking, Industrial, etc) that removes racism from our day to day lives.

To those young people in the streets, thank you for standing up. I am one with you in this pain. I am proud and inspired by your courage and your example. For the allies we have built and understand our call to you for a real partner in the repositioning and changing of the status quo of racism within society, thank you for your courage and disgust with the norms so that we can collectively make this a society we are all proud to be a part of. Let’s fix this together once and for all.

Text by Dan Bythewood

The British Fashion Council launches Great British Designer Face Coverings Campaign

Posted on by Chidozie Obasi

British Fashion Council (BFC) has announced the launch of ‘Great British Designer Face Coverings: Reusable, for People and Planet’, a joint campaign with Bags of Ethics, to manufacture and retail internationally, sustainable and reusable non-medical face coverings to use alongside existing social distancing measures. Designed in London by six British designers such as Halpern, Julien MacDonald, Liam Hodges =, Mulberry, RAEBURN and Rixo, the project aims to raise £1 million with 100% of sale profit going to charity and split between NHS Charities Together Covid-19 Urgent Appeal, BFC Foundation Fashion Fund and Wings of Hope Children’s Charity.

The non-medical face coverings are manufactured at Bags of Ethics 100% owned partner factories and provide a reusable and sustainable option for the environment with no single-use plastic. The non-medical face coverings will not deplete healthcare system. The product will be retailed at £15 for three reusable, washable, fabric face coverings with two protective pouches. These non-medical face coverings will be available to buy online through britishfashioncouncil.com and through partner retailers soon including ASOS, Boots, John Lewis & Partners and Sainsbury’s (in Tu Clothing sections in selected superstores, convenience stores and online at Tu.co.uk and Argos.co.uk)

Caroline Rush, Chief Executive BFC commented: “Fashion is a unifying force and now, more than ever, it is essential that we collaborate and come together to support each other through difficult times. Our ambition is to contribute to the fight against COVID-19, while protecting vital PPE supplies reserved for the NHS. Through this project, we will not only celebrate British designers but also champion sustainability in a time of crisis.”

Dr R Sri Ram, Chairman, Bags of Ethics: “We have always been at the forefront of supporting the public through mass behavioural changes in positive and useful ways. Since the early 2000s we helped supermarkets, and retailers reduce their single-use plastic bag consumption by 5+ billion units through sustainable and reusable bags. A new challenge arises with the Coronavirus pandemic. Our aim is to manufacture high quality reusable non-medical face coverings for the public which reduces stigma through great British design, in line with advice from our scientific community, whilst having a positive effect on both people and planet.”

Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries said: “Wearing of non-medical face coverings when you can’t socially distance is important to help stop the spread of COVID-19. It is great to see such leadership from our fashion industry – this partnership will help slow the spread of COVID-19 and raise money for important causes.”

The project is part of BFC’s wider initiatives to support creative fashion businesses and individuals to survive the pandemic. It aims to instil public confidence and unite the country through creativity, prevent further depletion of medical mask supplies, champion British designers and maximize fundraising opportunities in a time of crisis.

Most recently, the Government issued guidance for the public to wear face coverings in enclosed spaces where social distancing is not always possible. The reason why a non-medical facial covering is important is not that it keeps you safe, but because it stops you from inadvertently giving someone else the virus if you are pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic.

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

Posted on by Miriam De Nicolò

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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