David Pozzati
Photographer

Endless Night





Poverty in Italy in the last twelve years has been increasing exponentially, a social phenomenon without precedent since the end of the Second World War.
In 2020, as claimed by ISTAT (Italian National Institute of Statistics) 5,6 million people were living in this condition, 2 million of them families, a million more people in 2020 alone, as a direct result of Coronavirus. This represents 9,4% of the country’s population, the worst numbers since 2005.
Beyond the numbers and objective facts, poverty denies people the opportunity to have the kind of life they value and the possibility of playing a role in society, profoundly affecting their emotional state.

Since 2018 covering North, South and Central Italy, this project explores the theme of poverty with the aim of revealing the emotional impact that emerges from this daily life; sharing the daily routine of the homeless and visiting families living in hardship, it tries to show the inner consequences of living in this condition.
Shame, depression, loneliness, and a lack of contact with relatives are just some of the key factors that compromise people’s stability and generate a progressive detachment from society.

Without overlooking the importance of talking about the country’s current situation and with the intention of giving depth to, and wider geographical coverage of, the theme of poverty in a complicated country like Italy is, in this work there is also the intention to go beyond just a “chronicle of the facts”, using photography as a tool by which to show emotional conditions.

With these purposes “Endless Night” tries to break down the borders defined by a country’s reality alone, with the intention of linking “us” as viewers to “them”, in a shared experience. Following this path, images can work as mirrors so that in others we might see ourselves and what their conditions tell us about the state of our society.

ON GOING PROJECT.