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Seismic Landscape - Anthropological View
The Agri Valley in the Basilicata region has the largest underground oil reservoir in Europe and its position corresponds to the same of Montemurro fault. The area was interested by a terrific earthquake in 1857 causing thousands of victims and modifying the local natural landscape.
Today in the same area mining operations are carried on but this raises a strong concern among scientists and environmentalists. The seismic detectors are recording an increased underground activity as the daily extraction and reinjection operations are carried on by the oil companies. These event are defined as micro seismicity. The phenomenon is known as induced seismicity and together with the pollution of mining operations is determining the future of the valley and its people.
Compared to 1857 the today Val d'Agri (Agri Valley) has many villages, small cities, bridges, dykes, a refinery and almost thirty oil drills. What would happen if today the Montemurro fault would wake up? What if the oil extraction would trigger a series of uncontrolled underground events that will generate a more catastrophic earthquake compared to the one occurred in 1857.
At that time the consequences of the event were recorded by the engineer Robert Mallet, sent by the Royal Society of London together with the photographer Alfonse Bernoud. In three missions they documented the aftermath that brought Mallet to write the first book and create the science today known as seismology, and Bernoud to document the new landscape and to inaugurate the scientific photography of earthquakes.
With Mallet books in hand and the images of Bernoud in mind I have retraced the trips looking for the images to describe not the aftermath but the moments right before a possible catastrophic earthquake. Framing specific subjects and working on colors I wanted to show the tension of the land before the mechanical elastic force of the earthquake gets released.
The images are framing places of the Agri valley and the territory around which were devastated by the seism in 1857 and I have focused on some specific elements and view that captured my imagination during my trips and the reading of the Mallet’s book. I have tried to describe with the image the emotions I have experienced during more recent events and the words use my Mallet and the people interviewed at that time. The pictures are then a mixture of a scientific and emotional vision over a homeland on the edge of a possible cataclysm.
Today in the same area mining operations are carried on but this raises a strong concern among scientists and environmentalists. The seismic detectors are recording an increased underground activity as the daily extraction and reinjection operations are carried on by the oil companies. These event are defined as micro seismicity. The phenomenon is known as induced seismicity and together with the pollution of mining operations is determining the future of the valley and its people.
Compared to 1857 the today Val d'Agri (Agri Valley) has many villages, small cities, bridges, dykes, a refinery and almost thirty oil drills. What would happen if today the Montemurro fault would wake up? What if the oil extraction would trigger a series of uncontrolled underground events that will generate a more catastrophic earthquake compared to the one occurred in 1857.
At that time the consequences of the event were recorded by the engineer Robert Mallet, sent by the Royal Society of London together with the photographer Alfonse Bernoud. In three missions they documented the aftermath that brought Mallet to write the first book and create the science today known as seismology, and Bernoud to document the new landscape and to inaugurate the scientific photography of earthquakes.
With Mallet books in hand and the images of Bernoud in mind I have retraced the trips looking for the images to describe not the aftermath but the moments right before a possible catastrophic earthquake. Framing specific subjects and working on colors I wanted to show the tension of the land before the mechanical elastic force of the earthquake gets released.
The images are framing places of the Agri valley and the territory around which were devastated by the seism in 1857 and I have focused on some specific elements and view that captured my imagination during my trips and the reading of the Mallet’s book. I have tried to describe with the image the emotions I have experienced during more recent events and the words use my Mallet and the people interviewed at that time. The pictures are then a mixture of a scientific and emotional vision over a homeland on the edge of a possible cataclysm.
