In the middle of what is being described as the sixth mass extinction, the return of the wolf across the European continent has been hailed by many as a success story. Yet not everyone agrees.
On the Italian Alps, where the predator had disappeared in the late 1800s, its presence has instigated a fierce conflict between those that see coexistence as a crucial development in our relationship to the environment, and those who perceive it as a major threat to the traditions they uphold.
Though rarely seen, the wolf is now everywhere: in every shadow, whatsapp group, newspaper and electoral slogan. As tensions rise, drastic solutions are demanded and positions become entrenched, poisoning any dialogue between opposing views.
Unaware of the polarisation it engenders, the return of the wolf thus sheds a light on conflicting perceptions of our relationship, as human beings, to the ecosystems of which we are a part of.
Shot in Trentino, in the Eastern Alps, in the summer of 2023, this project tells the story of a conflict that is becoming increasingly relevant across the European continent and is the first of three spanning across the Italian peninsula.
