Vanity has always generated a huge interest, especially in the arts, just think of painters such as Tiziano or Memling, but also in sculpture and literature. One may also think of a key character like Narcissus and his story, a symbol of Greek mythology, that was characterized by the insidiousness of vanity itself, just like that of Lucifer, or Adam and Eve.
With this work the author intends to project the analysis of vanity in the current era and investigate today’s forms of narcissistic expression and its social mechanisms. But above all, his aim is that of telling the price of vanity. It is common knowledge how intensive farming works, it uses industrial techniques to get the maximum amount of product at the lowest cost and using minimal space. At the same time it is much less clear how intensive farming works in relation to the huge business of animal skins destined to the worldwide high fashion market. This work seeks to tell the sacrifice hidden behind the ruthless values expressed by the high fashion, and its cultural trend dominated by remorseless standards of beauty.
At date, Paolo has accomplished the first four chapters of his work, in Colombia, where he told the intensive breeding of the crocodiles, in Poland, a minks farm and in Thailand inside an ostriches breeding. In addition, the photographer told the lucrative activities of the tannery, necessary after slaughter of animals, and, in order to complete his investigation, he documented the incredible circus of high fashion, photographing that place that responds to many questions and represents the ultimate destination of a long journey, that is to say the catwalk, symbol of a widespread social urgency, namely the need to be watched.
