On display in Milan is the result of a three-month photography workshop in the model structure in Monza: fragments of daily life and fragile relationships
In the world over 55 million people suffer from dementia (over one million in Italy) and could triple by 2050. Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias represent the seventh cause of death. The economic impact is 23 billion euros per year, between direct and indirect costs.
In 2025 the social photography association Ri-scatti ODV decided to talk about this type of fragility, which concerns increasingly larger segments of the population. In collaboration with La Meridiana SCS, he organized a three-month photographic workshop in the «Paese Ritrovato»the Alzheimer village in Monza which is a place of care and a space in which to live and participate: 11 people including residents, educators, volunteers and family memberscoordinated by the photographers of Ri-Scatti, were accompanied to tell their stories and stories.
Over 7 thousand photographs were taken during the laboratory. From this material a selection of over 50 images was born, exhibited in the «Io sono qui» exhibition, from 11 to 19 March at the Osart Gallery in Milan (Plebisciti 12 course).
For those suffering from Alzheimer’s, presence is the only sign of existence. People, even the dearest ones, exist exclusively when they are physically present, visible, tangible. When they disappear from the perceptual field, the memory dissolves and with it the very existence of that person. There is no past, there is no future: only the present moment exists. In this context, photography becomes an existential act. No longer simple documentation, but a vital gesture that states: «I’m here. This exists».
Every shot is testimony, tangible proof that something – someone – really happened. The Osart Gallery in Milan hosts the outcome of the laboratory in an exhibition open to the public from Monday to Sunday (10am-1pm and 2.30pm-7pm). The photographs tell fragments of daily life, fragile and profound relationships, small gestures and moments of sharing. They do not try to explain the disease, but restore a human space made of presences, glances and bonds.
The Rediscovered Country is the first Alzheimer’s village in Italy: a community designed to restore autonomy, dignity and quality of life to people with dementia. Not a hospital facility but a small town, with houses, squares and shared spaceswhere relationships continue to be a central part of everyday life.
«I am here»
Osart Gallery
Corso Plebisciti 12, Milan
From 11 to 19 March 2026
Opening hours: Monday – Sunday, 10am-1pm and 2.30pm-7pm
March 19, 6pm
«Poetry beyond words: dialogue between music and voices from Il Paese Ritrovato». Meeting organized by Paola Perfetti, drama therapist (Cooperativa La Meridiana)
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