At the Gallerie d’Italia in Turin, from March 18 to September 6, 2026, the exhibition Nick Brandt. The Day May Break. Light at the End of the Day, curated by Arianna Rinaldo. The exhibition project is dedicated to one of the most significant contemporary photographers engaged in addressing, through artistic language, the issues of climate crisis and environmental devastation.
Launched in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, The Day May Break is a global photographic series divided into four chapters, marking a new phase in Brandt’s artistic journey. The project focuses attention on people, animals and landscapes scarred by the effects of environmental destruction, in areas of the planet that, while contributing minimally to climate change, suffer its most severe and disproportionate consequences.
For the first time at the Gallerie d’Italia in Turin, Italy, the four chapters of the series are presented together in an immersive journey consisting of 63 large-format photographs that offer an intense yet poetic vision of what remains of the natural world and what, despite everything, continues to suggest a possibility of hope. The fourth installment of the series was commissioned by Intesa Sanpaolo.
Nick Brandt (London, 1964) is a strongly committed artist whose gaze combines ethical rigor, narrative force and formal elegance. Since the early 2000s, his artistic research has focused on the progressive disappearance of nature and the devastating consequences of human activities on the planet’s most vulnerable beings, whether animals or people. Brandt’s work is distinguished by a rigorous and careful method: each chapter is born out of months of preparation, planning and collaboration with local teams who know deeply the territories and communities involved. Scenes are precisely constructed, while light and atmosphere come from waiting for the ideal moment and reacting to the unpredictable elements of nature. These stages are followed by a long process of printing and image selection, with the goal of establishing a direct and profound dialogue with the audience.
Chapter One, The Day May Break (2021), made in Kenya and Zimbabwe, is set in sanctuaries that take in animals rescued from wildlife habitat destruction and poaching. In these photographs, animals and people affected by the effects of climate change, displaced by devastating cyclones or impoverished by prolonged droughts, are portrayed together in the same shot. The images, suspended and almost unreal, tell of a shared dignity and a common feeling of loss.
Chapter Two, Sanctuary (2022), photographed in Bolivia, continues this reflection in another geographical context. In a country characterized by enormous biodiversity but increasingly threatened by fires, floods and droughts, Brandt portrays individuals and animals scarred by the effects of climate collapse, united by a shared fate faced with resilience and dignity. With SINK / RISE, Chapter Three (2023), made in the Fiji archipelago, the photographer turns his gaze toward the imminent future. The protagonists of the images, photographed underwater as they perform daily gestures, represent communities that are at risk of losing land, homes and livelihoods in the coming decades due to rising sea levels. The beauty of the marine environment is accompanied by a silent tension that suggests the idea of imminent loss.
The exhibition concludes with The Echo of Our Voices, Chapter Four (2024), made in Jordan on commission from Intesa Sanpaolo. In this chapter, Brandt portrays Syrian refugee families forced to live in conditions of permanent displacement. The desert landscape becomes symbolic of growing water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change. The images render scenes of collective strength, dignity and hope, highlighting resilience and the shared desire to build a better future.
A section of the exhibition is dedicated to the behind-the-scenes look at Nick Brandt’s work, offering the public an opportunity to enter the artist’s creative process and understand its productive intricacies. Through photographs and a video content made during the work phases in the different countries involved, this part of the exhibition allows visitors to discover the effort and work required to make each image, in which humans and animals were photographed simultaneously within the same scene.
The exhibition thus serves as a silent but urgent plea: through images of extraordinary visual and emotional power, Nick Brandt invites recognition of an often ignored truth, namely that the fate of humans, animals and the entire planet is deeply and inextricably interconnected.
The exhibition catalog, published by Società Editrice Allemandi in Italian and English, includes an essay by the curator and texts written in the first person by the photographer. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of free events and meetings included in the public program #INSIDE, which will take place every Wednesday at the museum. On March 18, the opening day of the exhibition, a conversation between artist Nick Brandt and curator Arianna Rinaldo will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the museum’s immersive room.
“Gallerie d’Italia returns to talk about climate change with a major project by Nick Brandt,” said Michele Coppola, Executive Director Art, Culture and Historical Heritage Intesa Sanpaolo and General Director Gallerie d’Italia. “We are premiering in Turin the fourth stage of a journey that is being revealed in its entirety to the public for the first time. Four exciting chapters that, thanks to the beauty and monumentality of powerful images, help to better understand the consequences of the climate crisis, without giving up a possible ”light at the end of the day.“ The museum in Piazza San Carlo continues to host original works, collaborating with leading international photographers.”
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| The effects of environmental destruction in Nick Brandt's shots, at the Gallerie d'Italia in Turin, Italy |
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