Over recent months, I have had the opportunity to join Vital scientists and researchers on field trips to monitor an artificial salt marsh in the central lagoon. Salt marshes behave like organisms, absorbing water and then slowly releasing it following the tidal cycle. They play an important role in the marine ecosystem and at the same time protect human infrastructure. 

This image of salt marshes as natural protection from today's storms is beautiful. On the evening of 13 November 2019, I was trapped outside during the epic flood. I have never been able to document a catastrophic event like the one that happened that night, but I have discovered a kind of therapeutic value in photographing the lagoon ecosystem. In this sense, I believe that photography helps me to ask questions about certain things that I still don't understand and that at the same time have a strong fascination for me. 

They say it is a common process to describe oneself by describing nature, to reflect one's feelings in the landscape. In recent months I have been subjected to a kind of reverse process as if I were being colonised by something that is present in the landscape. In this sense, I believe that photography helps me to ask questions about certain things that I still don't understand and that at the same time have a strong fascination for me.

When I was a child, the salt marshes intrigued me, I wondered what it would be like to walk on that newly emerged layer of vegetation. Now the salt marshes are disappearing and here in Venice we are not so aware of it. Maybe we should ask ourselves what we need to see to understand such things.