Vesuvius, 11 July 2017 , the photographic exhibition by Maurizio Esposito , curated by Chiara Pirozzi , opens on Friday 15 December, 5pm at the MANN - National Archaeological Museum of Naples (rooms 25 and 26 of the Farnese Collection).

Vesuvius, 11 July 2017 is a photographic project created on the slopes of Vesuvius in the aftermath of the 2017 fire which engulfed and destroyed numerous hectares of the volcano's wooded landscape. Involved as a volunteer from the first moments of the fire to help in the rescue efforts, Maurizio Esposito subsequently began his photographic research which lasted over three years, thanks to which he recorded not only the forms of devastation of a wounded landscape but also a time which, in its most latent and inexorable expressions, it is capable of healing the damage and at the same time a nature that reclaims its spaces.

Transformation and memory are intertwined in the photographs that make up the corpus Vesuvius, 11 July 2017, revealing an intimate personal connection and a family history of the author with the Vesuvian landscape, which make the images not only an archival testimony but above all a state of emotional soul that, from the experience of the individual, manages to open up to the perception of an entire community . (Chiara Pirozzi)

Vesuvius, 11 July 2017 is also a reflection on the destructive relationship between man and nature , and on the ability to reclaim the relationship of belonging with the place of its origins, even after devastating events.

Eighteen large format photographs, 100x71 cm, envelop the viewer and welcome him into the image, almost as if trampling on the fauna of the undergrowth and feeling an integral and active part of the landscape.