2nd place
silver star award
Kittiya Pawlowski
united states
title
Italian Shepherds in La Fioritura
Shepherds traverse through these extravagant blooms on foot and horseback on a seasonal migration called transhumance. This long-distance movement takes sheep from pastures in one region to another with more food available for grazing.
Transhumance is deeply rooted in Italy’s cultural heritage, with knowledge transmitted from generation to generation. Following World War ll, an exodus of shepherds from Sardinia guided their sheep into south-central Italy, reclaiming the land abandoned by farmers. Breathing life into entirely deserted villages across the countryside, these sheepherders revived and reinvented Italy’s rural heritage, blending it with their own.
Today, this way of life is fading as a new generation is drawn to urban life. Wherever it is practiced, transhumance shaped landscapes: Over millennia, shrines, churches, inns, and villages materialized near the shepherd’s routes.
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entry description
Every year, the Italian countryside comes alive with color as part of an annual spectacle known as 'la fioritura' (the flowering or blooming). Poppies, cornflowers, daisies, and violets paint the landscape in rainbow hues.Shepherds traverse through these extravagant blooms on foot and horseback on a seasonal migration called transhumance. This long-distance movement takes sheep from pastures in one region to another with more food available for grazing.
Transhumance is deeply rooted in Italy’s cultural heritage, with knowledge transmitted from generation to generation. Following World War ll, an exodus of shepherds from Sardinia guided their sheep into south-central Italy, reclaiming the land abandoned by farmers. Breathing life into entirely deserted villages across the countryside, these sheepherders revived and reinvented Italy’s rural heritage, blending it with their own.
Today, this way of life is fading as a new generation is drawn to urban life. Wherever it is practiced, transhumance shaped landscapes: Over millennia, shrines, churches, inns, and villages materialized near the shepherd’s routes.
about the photographer
Kittiya Pawlowski (b. 1998) is an American self-taught 2D artist that specializes in photography, drawing, painting, and illustration.back to gallery