TerraProject is celebrating its 20th anniversary with an exhibition and a book on ‘Silent Springs’
From 22 July, the Mad in Florence will host an exhibition of photographs by Michele Borzoni and Rocco Rorandelli on the new climate activism
The photography collective TerraProject is marking its twentieth anniversary and celebrating with Silent Springs, an exhibition of the latest work by two of its members, Michele Borzoni and Rocco Rorandelli, running from 22 July at the Mad – Murate Art District in Florence. The exhibition, curated by Valentina Gensini and open until 30 August, explores the new generations engaged in the fight for the climate and offers a close-up look at the environmental movements that have swept across Europe in recent years.
The project stems from a research and documentation project carried out between 2021 and 2024 in seven European countries: Italia, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Austria. Through documentary photography and reportage, Borzoni and Rorandelli closely follow some of the leading contemporary climate activism movements, including Extinction Rebellion, Code Rouge, Ende Gelände, Last Generation, End Fossil and Soulèvements de la Terre. The images depict demonstrations, non-violent direct actions, assemblies and symbolic occupations, as well as more intimate moments of discussion, organisation and the activists’ daily lives.
What emerges is a portrait of a generation that has channelled its concern about the climate crisis into political engagement and community-building, whilst exploring the relationship between the environment, democracy and the future. The title Silent Springs is a deliberate reference to Silent Spring, the famous book published in 1962 by the biologist Rachel Carson, considered one of the seminal works of the modern environmental movement.
At the same time, the book Silent Springs, published by the international publishing house Loose Joints, is being released worldwide. Across its 208 pages, Borzoni and Rorandelli bring together over two hundred images, exploring not only the languages, strategies and practices of environmental movements, whilst also documenting the various stages of collective action: from the planning of protests and the setting up of camps, through to confrontations with the police and the consequences of the demonstrations.
The book’s first Italian launch will take place on 22 July at 6.30 pm, to coincide with the opening of the exhibition in Florence. Alongside the authors and Valentina Gensini, the journalist and economist Roberta Carlini and Anna Meli, president of Cospe, will also be speaking.
