"LIQUID TRAJECTORIES"

by

Giuseppe La Spada

 

Federica Brignone ended the 2018/2019 World Cup season which confirmed her as the only Italian in the history of skiing to win in three different disciplines (Giant Slalom, Super G and Combined). With 28 podiums and 10 victories he is the third most successful ski champion ever since Deborah Compagnoni and Isolde Kostner. In addition to the successes in the race, Federica continues in her commitment, begun in 2017, for the environmental sustainability project "Liquid trajectories" which aims to raise public awareness of marine pollution.

 

“As a sportswoman working on snow I feel very strongly the connection with this element and of course with water; snow is solid water. - declares Federica - Since I was a child I have a strong bond with the sea and many memories having spent the summer holidays there. Sea conditions are changing in recent decades, this is the era of consequences, and it is not just about having a cleaner sea but an ecosystem in balance.

 

"The project is in strong synergy with what promotes and supports the One Ocean Foundation. Federica's decision to sign the Charta Smeralda, the behavioral ethical code that everyone is invited to sign online, was born from this communion of intent, and to accept the invitation to join the One Ocean Ambassadors."Liquid Trajectories"It is a social project of environmental responsibility that aims to raise public awareness of marine pollution, emphasizing sustainability and the value of water as a limited and not infinite resource, to arouse a new awareness, an invitation to change of mentality.

 

The idea was born from the meeting - promoted by the manager Giulia Mancini - the harmony and the alignment of thought with the photographer Giuseppe La Spada, one of the most interesting and original visual artists in the international scene who for some years has been pursuing a path of artistic research on the theme of water."Like all great champions, Federica felt the duty and pleasure of making her time and her image available to the social project," explains Giulia Mancini.

 

The first "trajectory". For the first phase of the project in the summer of 2017, Federica immersed herself in the Sicilian waters of Lipari in competition dress (with skis, helmets, boots and sticks) to tell us, through the splendid and suggestive photos of Giuseppe La Spada, her commitment and its link with the sea."The photo shoot, made underwater in the Aeolian islands, was a unique experience - says Federica - With the boots and skis you go to the bottom in a moment. I had a team of divers and divers who helped me to surface. Even though I risked drowning, it was worth it: it was magical to ski in the big blue.

 

"The second "trajectory". In 2018 Federica plunged back into the water to document, through the even more impactful images of the previous ones, made by Giuseppe La Spada, how the pollution due to the presence of plastic in the seas is seriously endangering the life of marine flora and fauna and consequently also that of all of us. The photos aim to convey the great sense of claustrophobia and suffocation felt by Federica who has identified herself with the inhabitants of the sea.

 

“As happened last summer in Lipari, I willingly made myself available to the project again this year to immerse myself in the water with my competition outfit to tell you, through the photos of Giuseppe, the terrible feeling of being surrounded and suffocated by plastic with enormous movement difficulties. Unfortunately this is what the fish, the turtles and the inhabitants of our seas are experiencing ... We must commit ourselves ALL to stop this terrible catastrophe" declares Federica.

 

Giuseppe further specifies: "Despite the plastic problem being mediatically visible to all, a plausible solution does not seem to be in place. Waste is everywhere in visible and invisible forms, plastic is found from fish to sea salt; now it is within us. Behaviors must be changed and awareness of the management of a problem that is no longer negligible. With this second series of images we aim to strengthen the concept conveyed last year with even more expressive images, with a Federica in an unexpected guise, in search of the real escape route.