The iron age
by Giulio Ielardi

Recovering metal objects, any object, is an activity that can be viewed from many perspectives. The confrontation with the material, first selected and then stripped of every functional embellishment. The memory of ancient impulses and gestures, which evoke the topos of time immemorial. The thought of sustainability, a global urgency of the contemporary world. And many others. With its oblique, and therefore penetrating gaze, photography can attempt to offer a possible synthesis of such a prismatic reality.
The Iron Age is a journey through sheets of metal and car carcasses, pyramids of cans and household appliance scraps, infernal machines, noise and chaos, flashes of light and pools of darkness. It’s an exploration of a world that is unknown because it is mostly discarded. Yet, like a spaceship in pieces after a catastrophic collision, it sends SOS flashes into the night.
The senders and recipients are us.