A photographic exhibition, titled “Emotions to generate change”, will open in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, October 31. Dedicated to the Encyclical Laudato si’, it is realized by Lia Beltrami, director, and writer, and photographer Asaf Ud Daula will open. The exhibition, which takes place on the occasion of the Special Year Laudato si’, the launching of the Laudato si’ Action Platform, and at the same time as the COP26 summit in Glasgow, will be visible under the left colonnade of the Basilica until November 8. The exhibition includes a total of 40 photos, of which 26 will be on display, mounted on special wooden panels, the material of which was taken from trees felled by the Vaia Storm, which in 2018 hit the mountainous area of the Dolomites and the Venetian Pre-Alps. At the end of the exhibition, there is also a video with the words of the Holy Father dedicated to the path of conversion towards an integral ecology and universal brotherhood, evoked in the Encyclicals Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti.
“Art,” said Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, who is sponsoring the initiative, “opens us up to worlds of different vision. The interpretation given by the creators of this exhibition, a young Muslim photographer from Bangladesh and a Catholic filmmaker, not only shows us that ‘nature is full of words of love’ (Laudato si’, 225), but that we can enter into dialogue with Creation, our common home, and with our brothers and sisters to show the profound artistry of our ecosystems”.
“The important thing”, Lia Beltrami explained, “is that art generates a change in people, moving even small steps within their consciences, day after day. When art is put at the service of the mission, that is when the conversion of the heart that the Pope asks of us is achieved. My experience and Asaf’s were shaken by the message of both Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti, and we started from those to communicate – through photos but also through our lives – that a common path to promote integral ecology, and to protect creation and the people who live in it, is really possible”.
The exhibition is realized with the collaboration of Archdiocese of Trento, Autonomous Province of Trento, Lions International, Montura, KPMG, Radè, Movinroots, Kyotohaus, Aurora Vision, Sulle Strade del Mondo.
