Marco D'Anna One belt one road, 2020

The book by Marco D’Anna sets out to reflect on a new Silk Road – One Belt, One Road – explored through a series of photographs of container landscapes and a body of texts on international shipping routes.

The project stems from a key moment in the photographer's life: years ago, on one of his journeys, he was aboard an Italian warship bound for the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia, through the Suez Canal.

He saw cargo ships of a size he had never seen before appear. They looked like spaceships emerging from the night: they were enormous, on a scale never seen even in the Mediterranean. That was the first time he came into contact with containers and the gigantic ships of global trade.

The book was published by Artphileis Editions and is printed in offset.

The Foundation has also published two limited editions with a slipcase printed in letterpress in one colour, silver:

The prints are Fine Art prints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Duo paper, 100% cotton, 276 g. The copies are signed and numbered on the slipcase.

The prints are Fine Art prints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper, 100% cotton, 177 g. The copies are signed and numbered on the slipcase.

The two limited editions were produced entirely by A14. Daniela Lorenzi designed and made every detail, working with Cristina Balbiano d'Aramengo.

The De Pietri Artphilein Fondation was founded in 2006 by the collectors Gianfranco and Caterina De Pietri as a non-profit organisation devoted to contemporary art and photography.

Main activities: promotion of contemporary photography, a publishing house for artists' books and photobooks, a public library, and exhibition spaces: Focus, La Piscina and OuterOut.

Artphilein = Friend of Art. Art as commitment and inspiration to face the challenges of the present and to imagine a possible future.

Artphilein Editions explores themes connected with the convergence of humanity and the environment, examining ongoing social and territorial change.

The publications also look into subjects such as personal narratives, offering intimate perspectives on contemporary issues.

The Swiss Confederation, on the occasion of the Week of the Italian Language in the World, as a prelude to the 2024 Maritime Silk Road Culture and Tourism Week, together with the Consulate General of Switzerland in Guangzhou, with the support of the Consulate General of Italy in Guangzhou and the Swiss Chinese Chamber of Commerce, organised in 2024 the photography exhibition of the Swiss photographer Marco D'Anna, entitled Container, Moduli, Paesaggi Percettivi, at the Temple of the Five Immortals in the Yuexiu district.

Marco D'Anna's photography uses the container, a symbol of modern logistics, as a means of expression, employing coloured modules that allow the public to imagine freely in space and to reflect deeply on the impact of globalisation and on the relationship between humankind and nature, economy and society.

Through his lens, containers become coloured modules, witnesses of global economic and commercial activity, with intense colours and multidimensional modular compositions that guide viewers through time and space, prompting deep reflection on the relationship between globalisation, humankind and nature, economy and society.