Photos by Emanuele Broli, Marco Ciccolella,  Laura Predolini

 

Price: 35 Euro
Page 176 - Formato 30x40
Text Italian/English
Year: 2012
 

 

A dream in a medal

The London Paralympics, through the photos of Emanuele Broli, Marco Ciccolella and Laura Predolini, reach us with eicastic force. Capable photographers document the salient stages: the ceremonies, the starts, the challenges, the falls, the arrivals, the victories, the prizegiving, but also the pathos, the condition of the hearts, the stories, the experiences, composing a real report. Rise again is the key for reading, the message read between the pages. Defeat and victory are two sides of the same medal, especially for all those who are able to restart when it falls on the wrong side. A challenge seen from far distance, by the others, is like a mountain observed from the bottom: it can seem impossible to conquer, but with big strength of heart, determination and sacrifice all the Paralympic athletes ascend it. It is the all-desired achievement of Olympus. During the Games the athletes transport us to the fields, capturing our attention, kidnapping our sight creating in us strong and intense emotions. The difficulty is only the beginning of a story which can pass big stages, overcome obstacles, and even reach the finish line range. The disability which we can initially observe on the track, outside the pool or on the street is forgotten during the challenge, because in this moment our eyes do not look at the diversity, but at the athlete. The champions involve us in their performance, leaving in us, after the challenges, courage and optimism, because they themselves incarnate the realisation of the dream, which is bravery, constancy, fight, sacrifice, and not a miracle. And for that a purpose, the attentive and curious eyes of our photographers have immortalized a concise but effective and pregnant motto, that Melissa Nicholls has written on her socks, directly in contact with the sole of those feet which move in a wheelchair: Big Dream. In the simplicity of one action, securely wished in primis for herself more than for the audience, the athlete offers a message of hope. In the end of the Games we rise from our seats aware of our diversity, the diversity that belongs to everybody, but with one more dream in our bag, a dream that we have seen come true in London and that we wish to take along, as much as possible, from the challenge in to the world. We wish to bring it to the school desks, to the centers of power, into the minds of all those who are behind military conflicts and economic speculations, into the civil society, into our actions, because a new world is put into effect where there is freedom to go for the medal.

Anna Lisa Ghirardi

 

Face the Fight
Cronache delle recenti Paralimpiadi 

Photos by Emanuele Broli, Marco Oprescu,  Laura Predolini