PROJECT BY GIULIA DEGASPERI

“These Dark Mountains” portrays the practice of alpine herding on the pastures of Trentino. The project took place during the traditional summer alpine grazing period, when shepherds move with their livestock from valley establishments to high mountain pastures. This ancient practice, which has helped create one of Europe’s most distinctive landscapes, is now increasingly threatened by factors such as abandonment and climate change. The images explore the realities of alpine pastures beyond their physical appeal and document the solitude and extraordinary labor that is required to sustain the severe mountain life, in a place where the cycle of life and death is present from dawn to dusk.