Paolo Pellegrin: Fragile Wonders

A gigantic iceberg, glowing lava, barren desert landscapes, magnificent vegetation, paradise-like animal worlds and the last two living northern white rhinos—Paolo Pellegrin’s (b. 1964) photographs take us on a visually powerful journey around the world: From Iceland to Costa Rica, from Greenland to Namibia, from Italy to Japan, and from Germany to Australia he traces the impacts of the human-caused climate catastrophe and the state of nature. The roots of this project lie in a research trip to Antarctica that Pellegrin undertook in 2017 together with a group from NASA to document the dramatic consequences of global warming.

In a comprehensive exhibition, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg will present for the first time in Germany Pellegrin’s impressively direct, but also poetic and at times surreal photographs and projections. The works of the multiple award-winning Italian photographer, who has been a member of the renowned Magnum Photos agency since 2005, resemble a global survey of nature.

Particularly known for his moving war photographs, Paolo Pellegrin is one of the most famous documentary photographers of our time. His photographs are captivating not only for their authenticity, but also for their aesthetic quality which is able to affect emotionally. They are more than pure reportage photography, for he has long since expanded his repertoire in favor of a specific use of light and shadow as well as various photographic techniques and methods. To give expression to truthfullness, Paolo Pellegrin deliberately dispenses with the possibilities of digital image manipulation. Thus, his most recent nature photographs, which are based on the four elements, are also motivated by a personal quest for transcendence: “Yes, of course it’s about landscapes and nature, but I have to transform them. [...] I’m looking for the sublime,” says Pellegrin.

Whether in color or in black and white, with his precise image compositions Paolo Pellegrin exposes the textures and patterns, the surfaces, the enormous power, as well as the vulnerability of our planet. His Fragile Wonders not only tell of the climate crisis, but open space for new viewing experiences of nature beyond catastrophes, not least by bearing witness with great empathy to the beauty and uniqueness of the earth.

The exhibition was developed for the Gallerie d’Italia, Museum Intesa Sanpaolo in Turin and adapted and expanded for the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in collaboration with Paolo Pellegrin and Magnum Photos.

Director: Andreas Beitin / Curator: Dino Steinhof / Press contact: Jannikhe Möller, presse@kunstmuseum.de, T+49 (0) 5361 2669 75 / Press material (press release and press images available for download).