9 Photographers for the Planet

Photography as the chosen means of artistic expression narrates the great themes of Expo 2015. Magnum Photos and Contrasto in an ambitious project bringing great photography to Expo Milano 2015. This collaboration, which started at the beginning of 2014, has led to the involvement of nine celebrated contemporary photographers who have interpreted the themes of the Cluster in individual and different ways, confirming the increasingly important role of images in society as a document of reality, means of communication and artistic expression capable of bringing themes of great significance to the attention of the wider public. Rice: rice paddies immortalised in the photos of italian photographer Gianni Berengo Gardin, who for years has explored the cultivation and harvesting of rice in Italy–from Piedmont to Lombardy–in China and in France. Fruit: the extraordinary beauty and poetry of fruit trees is revealed in the artistic images of Swiss photographer Irene Kung. Grain: the variety of different kinds of bread throughout the world captured by the American photographer Joel Meyerowitz in installations created for the purpose. Cocoa: the chocolate produced, consumed and sold throughout the world as seen through the eyes of the British photographer Martin Parr, President of Magnum, witness to the consumption and variety of ways in which cocoa forms part of the lives of all the earth’s inhabitants. Coffee: for the last ten years, the great Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado has photographed the cultivation, harvesting, drying, selection and transport of coffee, in various countries across the world, creating an account that is both lyrical and epic at the same time. Pacific Islands: pristine nature, the exotic, as seen by the American photographer and Magnum member Alessandra Sanguinetti, who illustrates the lives of families in the Oceanic islands, with three different stories originating in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Bio-Mediterranean: culture, history, landscape illustrated through the images of italian photographer Ferdinando Scianna, who took Mediterranean area as subject of his artistic investigation, exploring and documenting its distinctive cultures and rituals. Arid regions: American photographer George Steinmetz records the planet’s desert areas from the air, using a special, purposely built delta-plane, creating magnificent images of regions where in many cases fertility and agricultural production have been restored. Spices: a member of Magnum and exponent of magical travel photography, the American Alex Webb illustrates the enormous variety of spices on a journey from the ancient Spice Route to the markets of Asia. Exhibition: Catalogue of Clusters at Expo Milano 2015 – Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life, 1th May-31th October 2015. 9 great protagonists of international photography. 9 great exhibitions at Expo 2015.