Series description
For a few weeks in 2021, something unusual happened to the mountains near the Tonale pass in Italy: they were covered with hundreds of metres of immaculate sheets, sparkling under the sun’s rays and reacting like sails to every gust of wind. The reason for this is an attempt is being made to save the Presena glacier on the border between Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige. This giant has been dying for some decades now, but to protect it from melting the slopes of this glacier are covered with geotextile sheets placed by the Pontedilegno-Tonale consortium. However, even with this protection, the melting shows no signs of subsiding, and proceeds at an ever more pressing pace.
Biography
Francesco works mainly on long-term projects, looking for a point of contact between his documentary background and an interest for metaphors and symbolism.
He was selected by the BJP for “The Talent Issue: Ones to Watch" and he was shortlisted for the “Prix HSBC pour la Photographie”. In 2021 he was nominated for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award.
His pictures have been published on magazines worldwide and his work has been exhibited worldwide in collective and solo shows.
Untitled
A view of the Presena glacier, near Passo Del Tonale, covered with geotextile sheets to protect it from melting during the summer months. This type of covering is used in numerous ski resorts in Italy, France, Austria and Germany. On this glacier, the surface area of the sheets has increased from 20,000m² to 100,000m² in just over a decade.
© Francesco Merlini, Italy, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards
Untitled
A detail of the Presena glacier, near Passo Del Tonale, covered with geotextile sheets placed by the Pontedilegno-Tonale consortium to protect it from melting during the summer months. The sheets cover about 100,000 m² of the glacier.
© Francesco Merlini, Italy, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards
Untitled
An excavator folds the geotextile sheets that have been removed from the Presena glacier. Each side of the sheet can be used once in this ice preservation technique, so after two seasons the cloth is discarded.
© Francesco Merlini, Italy, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards
Untitled
A view of the Presena glacier, near Passo Del Tonale, covered with geotextile sheets placed by the Pontedilegno-Tonale consortium to protect it from melting during the summer months. The surface of the sheets used on this glacier increased from 20,000m2 to 100,000m2 in just over a decade.
© Francesco Merlini, Italy, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards
Untitled
A detail of the Presena glacier, near Passo Del Tonale, covered with geotextile sheets to protect it from melting during the summer months. The sheets cover about 100,000 m² of the glacier.
© Francesco Merlini, Italy, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards
Untitled
An employee of the Pontedilegno-Tonale consortium sat on the sheets used to protect the Presena glacier from melting during the summer months. The sheets are placed in June and removed in September.
© Francesco Merlini, Italy, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards
Untitled
A view of the upper section of the Presena glacier, near Passo Del Tonale, covered with geotextile sheets.
© Francesco Merlini, Italy, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards