Matteo de Mayda

There’s no calm after the storm

 

An extreme weather event hit north-eastern Italy in October 2018. The Sirocco wind blew up to 200 kilometres per hour through the Dolomite valleys, knocking some 14 million trees to the ground. The incessant rain caused torrents to overflow, dragging logs and debris downstream. Overnight, the inhabitants of a number of mountain communities in Trentino, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia found their cellars flooded and even their houses torn apart by the winds.

More than five years later, the consequences of storm Vaia are still visible and tangible. The slopes of various mountains are barren. The remaining forests have been invaded by the spruce bark beetle: a parasite that feeds on wood. Without the plants, there is no protection against landslides and avalanches. While experts and locals are rolling up their sleeves to try and bring the situation back to normal, the total economic damage has been estimated at three billion euros.

Produced in collaboration with journalist Cosimo Bizzarri, the TESAF and DAFNAE departments of the University of Padua and the ISPA Grant 2021, There’s no calm after the storm investigates the long-term consequences of an extreme weather event and the fragile balance between human action and the resilience of ecosystems.

The exhibition also features a video by Gianluca Miotto with a soundtrack by Lorenzo Tomio.

Matteo de Mayda (1984, Treviso, Italy) lives in Venice. His visual research focuses on social and environmental phenomena.

He has exhibited his work at the Venice Biennale, MUFOCO, the Milan Triennale, Camera in Turin and the Design Museum in London.

In 2019, he published Era Mare, a book about the phenomenon of high water in Venice. In 2020, he was selected by Artribune as best young Italian photographer of the year. In 2021, he was one of the FUTURES talents selected by CAMERA (Italian Centre for Photography) and won the Italian Sustainability Photo Award (ISPA) with There’s no calm after the storm. In 2022, he won the British Journal of Photography International Award.

His images have been published in Italian and international newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Financial Times Magazine, Internazionale, Zeit and Vogue.

27/04

H 11

Chiostri di San Pietro | laboratorio aperto

MEET THE ARTIST

JO RACTLIFFE

MATTEO DE MAYDA

KARIM EL MAKTAFI

Moderator WALTER GUADAGNINI

Exhibition Venue

Chiostri di San Pietro
via Emilia San Pietro, 44/c
Reggio Emilia

1


Opening hours

opening days
26th of April › 19-23
27th of April › 10-23
28th of April › 10-20

from 1st of May to 9th of June
Wednesday, Thursday › 10 - 13 / 15-19
Friday, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays › 10 - 20

Category
Chiostri di San Pietro