More than 300 shots tell the armed conflicts in the world between 1995 and 2023
The event horizon is a concept related to the physics theory of black holes, a theoretical prediction of general relativity, defined as the boundary surface beyond which no occurrence can affect an external observer. This idea of limit between visible and invisible, border between light and oblivion, which also becomes metaphorical oblivion of historical memory, is the basis of the exhibition “L’Orizzonte degli eventi” by the photographer Paolo Pellegrin (curated by Annalisa D’Angelo and Denis Curtis - Marsilio catalog) set up in the Stanze della fotografia at the Giorgio Cini Foundation on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore.
PELLEGRIN, MEMBER OF THE MAGNUM AGENCY, IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WITNESSES OF THE TRAGIC EVENTS OF RECENT HISTORY
The author, a member of the Magnum agency, is one of the most important witnesses of contemporary conflicts. Through his shots, he tells the events of recent history and conflicts in the world, from Palestine to Iran, from Nigeria to Cambodia, up to the war in Ukraine. Since Louis Jacques Mandè Daguerre made the first daguerreotype in the early 1800s, photography has changed the visual memory of humanity and, subsequently, the reportage has allowed to investigate and document the reality, replacing the written word with the communicative power of images.
LEITMOTIF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN AND HIS FRAILTIES
The Paolo Pellegrin exhibition includes over 300 shots and an unpublished report on Ukraine, made between 1995 and 2023. They talk about his activity on the front. The main protagonist is the man whose emotions and feelings he is able to grasp. Several places described: Gaza, Beirut, Rome and nations such as Japan and America, document the armed conflicts that tear the planet and add other shots that concern the effects of climate change and the consequent relationship between man and nature. The Venetian exhibition allows the visitor to proceed step by step in the most intimate dimension of Pellegrin and to share his choices, intuitions and urgencies.
