A photographic narrative of Alta Badia by Omar Sartor, featuring words and photographs.

Ever since I was a child I always thought that no matter how much I grew I would always look up at the mountains from below, and over time I have come to understand that the nature of that reflection was not physical but reverential. Mountains in fact still remain extreme places that demand knowledge, education, sensitivity and tenacity. The relationship to be had with mountains is sophisticated. It requires awareness of oneself and of the spirit of the places. It requires knowing how to listen.

I believe that to date, it is only in extreme places such as mountains that the real form of the relationship between man and nature can be more clearly perceived.

This series of photographs aims to highlight the delicacy with which the inhabitants of Alta Badia have found a way to relate to their territory. It is a story that speaks through form, color, abstraction and simplicity. Often the elements are decontextualized in order to better appreciate their nature. The series of shots changes from an almost postcard-like language to an abstract one with the intention of seeing the landscape beyond the commonplace. The mountains surrounding the valley are not just a landscape, but a living and powerful presence, and the inhabitants know it very well. Alta Badia is also a story of sustainability, a delicate balance between that modernity that touches the peaks and a tradition that has very deep roots.

The necessary anthropic signs combine with the landscape with rare wisdom, almost naturally becoming a new part of it and, moreover, it was precisely for this reason that I wanted to structure part of the story in diptychs. I also focused a lot on the use of color to make it become an unconscious visual language. I wanted to convey the same sensations experienced but on a higher level of reading: sensations that speak of a return to the simple and profound beauty of a world that asks for nothing but to be listened to.