Quarried

‘Quarried’ is a documentary series & a visual exploration of marble quarrying in Carrara. 

At the northernmost tip of Tuscany one of the world’s finest & renowned marble is getting quarried. The Carrara Marble. A white or blue-grey marble that is used for sculpturing, architecture & interior decoration all over the world.

During the Renaissance Michelangelo used the fine Carrara marble for many of his sculptural works, including his famous David. But also buildings like the Marble Arch in London, the Dumo di Siena & the Oslo Opera House have been built with the flawless white stone from Italy. 

The quarrying of marble is a huge economical & commercial factor of the region & has been since the time of the Ancient Rome. Deep down in the Apuan Alps more than 4000 workers are producing an amount of 5M tons of marble a year on around 300 quarrying sites. Compared to the 100K tons a year at the beginning of the 20th century a significant increase that has been enabled by industrial progress & increasingly criticized by environmentalists.  

The quarrying has taken its toll on nature & its surrounding landscapes. From the distance the Apuan Alps look like a normal mountain range. But the closer you get the more you realize how human impact has shaped the mountains into their distinct forms. Sliced up like a cake. Over the course of time certain mountain ranges have been completely mined away into their non-existence. 

With this series I want to show you the ambivalence of the Apuan Alps near Carrara in a visual way. The unique & beautiful structures of the quarried marble. But also the sheer destruction of the natural shapes of the mountains that comes with it.

–

Carrara, Northern Tuscany, Italy / 2020

Photography / Art Direction by Roland Kraemer

Find this series on Behance