„I don’t believe art can solve ecological crises” – Conversation with Claudia Fuggetti

You quote David Abram, who says that the ecological crisis is actually a crisis of perception. How do you personally experience this “crisis of perception,” and how did you aim to translate it visually in the series?

I believe we are currently living in a condition of detachment from nature. We are used to perceiving it as something separate, external, and exploitable. To me, this is the true crisis of perception. In Metamorphosis, I tried to reverse this perspective by portraying figures that do not dominate but rather allow themselves to be crossed and transformed by the landscape. The images aim to evoke a state of listening and fusion, an invitation to perceive nature as an extension of ourselves. Many contexts highlight this issue of perception and consumption: tourist sites, for example, are often treated like backdrops, photographed as mere objects and then left polluted afterwards. Or places like Keukenhof, where I shot part of the series, are staged and consumed as images, as if vegetation were just decoration rather than a living presence. What matters to many is producing content, not the actual content itself, as if everything were part of a fiction and nature no longer truly alive.

At the core of the series is transformation and nature’s regenerative force. What role do you think contemporary photography can play in re-establishing a connection with nature in the age of the Anthropocene?

Photography can play a significant role because it is an immediate, universal language, capable of raising awareness and sparking reflection. I don’t believe art can solve ecological crises, but it can create spaces of consciousness, empathy, and imagination. It can restore our sense of wonder and fragility, and perhaps reawaken a sense of responsibility toward our surroundings. In the installations of my work, I often draw inspiration from hippie communes, reinterpreted in a contemporary way. I create free zones, spaces of tolerance where the audience can engage with the images and reflect on the tension between the natural and the artificial. On a metaphorical rather than material level, I am interested in generating a sense of distance first, to then invite reconnection with these elements.