TURIN — Photographer Nick Brandt opened his most complete exhibition to date on 18 March at the Gallerie d’Italia in Turin. The museum, owned by Italian lender Intesa Sanpaolo, one of Europe’s largest banking groups, is presenting all four chapters of his global series The Day May Break together for the first time.
London-born Brandt, now in his sixth decade, has spent more than 20 years documenting the progressive destruction of the natural world. Since the early 2000s his work has focused on the devastating impact of human activity on the planet’s most vulnerable inhabitants, human and animal alike, building a body of work recognised for combining ethical rigour with exceptional visual beauty.
The series, launched in 2020, spans Kenya, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, Fiji, and Jordan, placing people and animals displaced by environmental destruction within the same frame. Across 63 large-format images, Brandt documents communities among the least responsible for climate collapse yet bearing its heaviest consequences.
That fourth chapter, The Echo of Our Voices, portrays Syrian refugee families in Jordan’s desert landscape, a terrain that stands as a symbol of water scarcity intensified by climate change.
“Presenting in Turin the fourth stage of a journey that for the first time is revealed in its entirety to the public,” said Michele Coppola, Executive Director of Art, Culture and Historic Assets at Intesa Sanpaolo and Director General of the Gallerie d’Italia.
Method, process
Each chapter required months of preparation and close collaboration with local crews. Brandt constructs his scenes with precision, waiting for the exact quality of light before committing to a frame. A dedicated section of the exhibition offers visitors a behind-the-scenes view of this process, including video footage from the field.
The Gallerie d’Italia in Turin is the fourth site in Intesa Sanpaolo’s museum network, after Milan, Naples, and Vicenza, and one of the main public faces of the Group’s art and cultural project. Housed in the historic Palazzo Turinetti in Piazza San Carlo, the venue holds the bank’s own art and archival collections, including the vast Archivio Publifoto Intesa Sanpaolo, while also hosting major temporary exhibitions. It was Intesa Sanpaolo that commissioned the fourth and final chapter of The Day May Break directly, underscoring the institution’s commitment to sustainability and social responsibility through culture.
The exhibition runs through 6 September 2026. A free public programme takes place every Wednesday.
