Pelle di Lava
by Chiara Indelicato

Stromboli is an island, a volcano, a microcosm in the heart of the Mediterranean.
In this land, shaken in recent years by a series of catastrophes—fires, mudslides, and eruptions—the reality of ecological threat is tangible, provoking a rational fear. Starting from the disasters that have struck the island, Pelle di Lava becomes a poetic exploration of territorial oblivion, where human, economic, and urban development reveal themselves as integral parts of the catastrophe.
Pelle di Lava brings forth the question of the volcano’s identity through its geological layers, but also through a monologue—the volcano’s own voice—as it observes, experiences, and comments on the activities unfolding on its slopes. It is the volcano that will define itself as “the mirror of the world,” a reflection of a nature we delude ourselves into believing we possess. This voice is not merely symbolic; it aligns with all struggles to recognize nature as a legal entity. Giving nature a voice becomes an essential part of resisting a politics that seems willfully to forget the very planet we live on.
In this new political animism, a shared, urgent, and primordial revolt resounds—one made of ashes, lava, and sea.
Pelle di Lava is an analog series born with this island and with the desire to inhabit it. The images in the series are developed and printed in the darkroom without the use of photographic chemicals, but with coffee and seawater.

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