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C-Pop Girls

© Giulia Piermartiri + Edoardo Delille

In the heart of China's crowded metropolises, a generation of young women is growing up with a different world consciousness.
Defying social expectations, these 20-year-old girls embody the change taking place in the Asian country.
Immersed in whimsical C-Pop music, they are a perfect fusion of tradition and modernity, with a rhythm that blends elements of Chinese popular culture with international influences.
On the streets of Chongqing, the largest and most unknown city in the world - few people have heard of it, but it has 32 million inhabitants - Giulia Piermartiri + Edoardo Delille took a series of portraits of young Generation Z women.

Brought up in a historically oppressive society, Chinese women have lived under the shadow of a rigid patriarchal order that has imprisoned women in submissive, hard-working roles.
Mao Zedong, during the 1950s, paved the way for women's emancipation.
'Women hold up half the sky' was the motto of the Chinese Communist Party, which recognised the revolutionary role they played in the liberation of China. However, with the rise of Xi Jinping, the male leadership has veered towards a more traditionalist view of the family, insisting on the role of mothers and wives.


The new generation we have portrayed has the ambition to conquer a different role from the one traditionally assigned to women by society.

The significant social, technological and economic transformations in which these young girls grew up have generated women with a unique and independent identity. In recent years, it is increasingly common that many famous Western fashion brands have chosen these young emancipated Chinese women as ambassadors not only for their consumer power but for their influence on the market.

The extravagant clothes inspired by Japanese manga, the bright colours of the kawaii aesthetic and the eccentric accessories are a declaration of independence.
Coloured hair, contact lenses, piercings and androgynous bodies challenge the norms and expectations of a country in a time of great change.
The desire for personal fulfilment beyond the family, pursuing professional and artistic careers, the expressive freedom of the C-Pop phenomenon and the first hints of emancipation regarding sexual identity, reflect the growing influence of these young women on the major transformations taking place in Chinese society.

click to view the complete set of images

We have quotes to accompany the portraits 


VJOSË

© SchirraGiraldi (Manuela Schirra & Fabrizio Giraldi)

The Vjosa is Europe’s last ‘wild river’ and one of the best in the world. It was declared a national park on March 13, 2023. It flows from Greece through Albania to the Adriatic Sea, it has no dams or power stations along its 270km length. The Vjosa and its surroundings are rich in biodiversity, home to more than 1,000 species, including 13 animal species and 2 plant species assessed as globally threatened. The new park covers 12,700 hectares, it includes the river itself, the four tributaries and the surrounding land. It will protect the river and provide a “forever home” for the local people to continue their traditional way of living.

In June 2022, after ten years of work by NGOs and local communities, the government’s official commitment to establish a river park to protect the river and its rich network of tributaries. It is the first wild river national park in Europe. The Vjosa shows us how rivers looked like in Europe before the Anthropocene. It is a role model for restoring other rivers in the continent.

This river is the last chance in Europe to preserve unique ecosystems and the communities and the symbiotic and natural way in which they live with the river system. In vlachs language Vjosë means “at the lowest level near to the river”, and therefore the name includes within itself its surroundings and refers to that variable of shape and space which depends on the level of the water.

The Vjosa Park is today an opportunity to define a model (also economic) unique in the world for the protection of wild areas which are in effect not only a heritage but also, above all, a necessity for the whole world. At the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference COP15, UN member states agreed to a target to protect 30% of the world’s land and seas by 2030.



Since November 2023 the Greek part of the Vjosa, that in Greece is called Aoos, has also been fully protected. The negotiations began with the establishment of the river park in Albania.

VJOSË is a story without borders, like the others relating to the Balkan rivers where the NGOs worked in coordination since more than twenti years and of the Vjosa has become now the symbol.

On February 27, 2024 was approved the EU Nature restoration law. It aims to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030. Within this wider goal, countries need to restore 30% of habitats covered by the new law (including forests, rivers and wetlands) that are already degraded by 2030. This increases to 60% by 2040 and at least 90% by 2050. Today 80% of the habitats in the European Union are degraded.

click to view all the images in the story


Soho Inkscapades

© Dougie Wallace

Soho: Tattoos that Tell Tales


Documenting 'tattoos' in Soho was not a specific project I initially pursued; rather, it organically emerged from my project on Soho Unlocked. As I observed a lot of people with tattoos, I found them fascinating.
Through my social documentary photography, I affirm the prevailing trend that has witnessed a remarkable resurgence in tattoo popularity over the past decade. Once deemed taboo or confined to specific subcultures, tattoos are now widely embraced as a means of self-expression, artistic appreciation, and empowerment. Evolving societal attitudes towards body art have transformed tattoos from symbols of rebellion to recognised works of art that celebrate individuality, even if often acquired from readily available designs. Social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest have provided tattoo artists with increased visibility, allowing those with compelling designs to amass large followers. Moreover, celebrities proudly displaying intricate tattoos have played a role in normalising body art, inspiring countless individuals to embrace ink.

Beyond aesthetics, tattoos can cultivate a sense of camaraderie when individuals choose to get inked together to commemorate special occasions. Young women, in particular, have been a growing market for tattoos. They have embraced this trend as a means of reclaiming ownership of their bodies and expressing their personal narratives.

Yet, my photographic style is most intrigued by documenting quirks and emerging trends. As mainstream adoption of tattoos occurs, an underground movement emerges to counter the trend. In parallel with commercial tattoos, there is a resurgence of tattoos in their original form, serving as authentic markers of belonging. The greatest attraction of Soho for me is the way it has become a canvas for those with more alternative personas, for whom tattoos represent a deeper aspect of identity rather than mere life milestones. You spot them immediately, and they make you wonder what experiences they’ve been through and what they’re about. You can’t help but marvel over their boldness and bravery while admiring their unique style. For the perceptive eye – perhaps that of a style scout – these characters would be providing cues for what’s next. It could be the colour scheme, it could be the jewellery, the piercings; it could be anything from the overall look - of which the tattoos are just one aspect.

And that’s the best part of my job. There's truly nowhere like London for staying at the forefront of fashion trends, and I consider myself fortunate to reside a stone's throw away from the zeitgeist.
-Dougie Wallace, Feb 2024

click to view the complete set of images in the archive



Hvaldimir

© Joakim Eskildsen

Hvaldimir is a male beluga whale that fishermen near Hammerfest in northern Norway noticed in April 2019 wearing a camera harness. After being freed from the harness, the whale remained in the area and appeared used to humans. Speculation that he had been trained by Russia as a spy whale led to his being dubbed Hvaldimir.

Upon removing the harness, the buckle clip read "St. Petersburg". This harness and camera led to suspicion that the whale had been trained for use in Russian espionage. Both the United States and Russia are known to have military cetacean training programs,with Russian programs incorporating beluga whales. A Russian marine scientist told a Norwegian colleague that the harness was not of a type used by Russian scientists. The Norwegian Police Security Service is investigating. A Russian naval analyst, Mikhail Barabanov, said he thought the whale was part of a zoological tracking project. In late May 2019 satellite photos surfaced reportedly showing pens at the Russian base at Olenya Guba that could accommodate belugas and other cetaceans.

The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority have repeatedly issued conflicting statements about Hvaldimir's welfare, at times claiming he had become a “wild” whale. In January of 2023, Hvaldimir was still living full-time in and around fisheries off the coast of Norway, where he frequently would be seen interacting with workers, fishermen, locals and tourists. By the early spring of 2023, no Norwegian agency or branch within the government had yet provided any protection, welfare plan or care for Hvaldimir; much of his earlier feeding, health care and human interactions had come from several international whale activism groups, whose volunteer presence had been approved by the Norwegian authorities.

In May of 2023, Hvaldimir was located near Hunnebostrand, in south-western Sweden, having travelled along the Scandinavian coastline at a faster speed than previously observed. While the reasons for this movement aren't entirely clear, marine biologist Sebastian Strand speculated that the whale may be seeking the company of others of his species, to socialize, or to find a mate.

In early June of 2023, still without a clear plan for the future, Hvaldimir appeared in a highly populated area, in a river near midtown Gothenburg, Sweden. In mid-June, he followed a boat to the river Glomma.

On 26 June, Hvaldimir showed up in Strömstad and in Kungshamn, two towns not far from the Norwegian border.

On 10 July 2023, it was reported that the Hammerfest town council had actually voted 28-32 in-favor of setting up a private fjord sanctuary away from the busy harbor, but still within the region of Finnmark, away from maritime traffic and potentially dangerous tourists. OneWhale, one of the organizations involved in Hvaldimir’s care and observations, stated that other captive and human-conditioned beluga whales from around the world could be rescued and potentially joined with Hvaldimir, with the whales possibly being released further north to the waters off Svalbard, where a group of wild belugas is known to exist.

The story was commissioned by The New York Times Magazine

click to view the complete set of images in the archive




Doppelgangers

© Nick Ballón and Nelly Ben Hayoun

Doppelgangers is a Feature length documentary that will be shown as world's premiere at the SXSW Film and TV Festival (8-16 March 2024). This project was funded by the Sundance Institute and The BFI doc Society Fund.

The project and film investigates new possible diasporic collective futures and it is also a scientific experiment and paper which will be presented at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan in October 2024. The film draws on the experience of diasporas to challenge the commercialisation of the moon at a time when the NASA Artemis manned mission is planned for the end of this year, it brings together the world of epigenetics and space and space exploration. It features people like Michio Kaku and other quantum physicists and it is about the future of humanity in space with a diasporic, queer eco-feminist lens.

As part of the filming, Ballón spent a few days with the Doppelgangers at a secret cave in Bilbao, at Astroland. Nick lived, trained, slept and behaved like an astronaut. In full immersion, Nick Ballon shot a beautiful photo essay documenting his experience, while the crew was filming the Analog Space Mission part of the feature film. His work will soon be released and featured as part of the wider project.




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