We are still dreaming

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project © Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project © Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project View all images ↓
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  • Dates
    2021 - Ongoing
  • Author
  • Topics Social Issues, Documentary
  • Location Italy
Report issue

"We are still dreaming" is a visual investigation of the community of young people under 30 which are part of the NO TAV movement.

What does it mean to live a life that forces you to always question the goodness of your country's institutions and that leads you to consider the figures who should protect you as a threat to your freedom?

"We are still dreaming" is a visual investigation of the community of young people under 30 who live in the Susa Valley, one of the wildest alpine valleys in Italy. This place holds the record for being the most militarized place in the country and for hosting the longest lasting protest movement ever in Italy: the No Tav.

The movement, originated in the early 90s, aims to oppose the construction of the high-speed railway line Turin-Lyon, considered a waste of public money and a harm to the territory.

In over 30 years of work not even one meter of the 7 km of tunnels foreseen – which should serve the passage of the trains - has been realized.

With my project " We are still dreaming " I decided to narrate, through portraits and the collection in a diary of their testimonies, the story of this new generation of young people who have never known a life without struggles, denunciations, arrests and protests.

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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View of the Chiemonte high-speed construction site, located under the E70 motorway. According to the latest updates of the TAV project, this is where the tunnel for the high-speed trains linking Turin and Lyon will emerge. The area is completely militarized, surrounded by two lines of barbed wire barriers, and to enter the construction site it is necessary to pass two checkpoints, one of the police and one of the army. March 2022, Chiemonte, Torino, Italy

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Micol, 21 years old, at the permanent NO TAV presidium in San Didero. "How do I imagine the valley without the TGV? I imagine it without the fear of being constantly stopped by police checkpoints, I imagine not being afraid of waking up one morning and discovering that I have a drill under my house. I imagine not being afraid anymore that the place I live and love will be devastated. March 2022, San Didero, Torino, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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A falconer holds a buzzard, a bird considered by the oldest traditions to be the messenger and protector of the air and a symbol of freedom. May 2022, Bussoleno, Turin, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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A 22-year-old boy from the "Giovani NO TAV" movement holds the movement's flag on one of the mountain tops surrounding the Susa Valley. The young man prefers to remain anonymous. In the past, he has been subjected to strong pressure from the police for taking part in protests against the TGV construction works. March 2022, Val di Susa, Turin, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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The signs of a fire, presumed to be of arson origin, that destroyed part of the permanent NO TAV presidium in San Didero. March 2022, San Didero, Torino, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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The Olivero Fugera family. The 67-year-old father, 62-year-old mother and two children, Anna 24 and Edoardo 20, have always been part of the NO TAV movement. The father recently received a search warrant from the local police for charges yet to be defined. March 2022, Giaglione, Torino, Italy

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The rock of the mountain emerges under the concrete casting inside the Turin-Lyon geognostic tunnel. The geognostic tunnel, not yet completed, will be used to transport the ventilation system, the electricity and the water system inside the tunnels that will house the high-speed trains. March 2022, San Didero, Turin, Italy.

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Sofia, aged 21, inside her room in the village of Avigliana. "If I think of a place to which I am very attached, the presidium of Venaus comes to my mind. I like it a lot, perhaps because of its simplicity, and when I go there I feel at home. It may look like a meadow, but it is much more than that. It is a place of life, struggle and simple joy. March 2022, Avigliana, Turin, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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A tear gas fired by the police outside the Chiemonte construction site. In the woods around the TAV construction sites it is very easy to find tear gas of various kinds, which is fired by the police to disperse the demonstrations outside the construction sites. March 2022, Val di Susa, Turin, Italy

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Nicolò, aged 23, inside the Tortuga tavern, where he works. The tavern is one of the most important meeting places for the young people of the NO TAV movement who live in the Susa Valley. December 2021, Bussoleno, Torino, Italy

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Camilla, 25, inside her house in Mattie, a hamlet of Bussoleno. "When I was little, we had a hut above Mattei, in Toglie. My grandfather used to tell me that there were partisans here during the war. He was often with them and if the war had gone on he would probably have joined them. Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away when I was 11 years old, but deep down I always feel him with me because I think he lives on in the mountains he loved so much". March 2022, Mattie, Torino, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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The interior of a room in the village of Bussoleno, one of the most important towns in the Susa Valley with almost 6000 inhabitants. December 2021, Bussoleno, Torino, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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Sara, aged 22, inside her room in the village of San Valeriano. "I was only 5 years old, I didn't understand what the TAV was yet, I only saw white and red flags walking together. Then the memories were lost. Over the years my family moved away from the NO TAV movement because police violence was getting stronger and stronger. It was only years later, as a teenager, that I approached the movement again and began to make new memories: moments of struggle and socialising together, all of us united by a common goal that warms the heart " March 2022, San Valeriano, Turin, Italy

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The caterpillar of the butterfly Zerynthia polyxena Geyer, a protected species and included in the European "Habitats" and the Bern Convention. Considered to be of Community interest, it finds one of its habitats right near the Chiomonte Construction Site. TELT, the company that is working on the construction of the HST, together with the University of Turin, has initiated a research program in order to protect the butterfly's population by trying to move its habitat to another area. In this scientific program, corridors are created in the forest with the plants on which the butterfly feeds. To date, the results of the project are still unclear and the population living near the construction site is potentially in a dangerous situation. May 2022, Chiomonte, Turin, Italy.

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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Cenischia stream, which originates in the French mountains but flows for much of its course in Italy. May 2022, Novalesa, Turin, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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Giorgio, born in 1927, with his 29-year-old niece Maria Laura. At the age of 22, Giorgio joined the Val di Susa partisan group, considered one of the most important and numerous partisan groups in Italy. To this day, he is one of only two partisans still alive in the valley. Despite his age, he still paints, a passion he shares with his granddaughter Maria Laura. March 2022, Val di Susa, Turin, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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Recognition document of the "Corpo Volontari Della Libertà" (partisans) inside the Resistance museum in Mompantero. The Susa Valley is historically famous for the importance of its partisan movement and the age of the young people who joined the movement corresponds to the age of the young people who are joining the "Giovani No Tav" movement today. March 2022, Val di Susa, Torino, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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A Statue of Our Lady, a symbolic and pilgrimage site by the Catholics for the Valley NO TAV movement, with the Chiomonte construction site behind it. May 2022, Chiomonte, Turin, Italy

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Alessia, 25, in the garden of her house in Chiusa di San Michele. "I remember, years ago, two old ladies, with NO TAV handkerchiefs around their necks, who during a demonstration suddenly burst into song and dance to a song of the movement, one of those that no one listens to anymore and that I don't even know. That was perhaps the moment when I understood what it means to be part of this community. March 2022, Chiusa di San Michele, Turin, Italy

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A plan inside one of La Credenza's lodgings. La Credenza is a restaurant in Bussoleno but also one of the symbolic places of the No TAV movement, in fact it is a meeting place for the people of the movement and an accommodation where people who come to the valley to meet the movement are hosted. December 2021, Bussoleno, Torino, Italy

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Francesco, aged 25, inside the Mulini, one of the permanent garrisons that stands a few metres from the TAV construction site in Chiemonte. "The first strong memory of the movement dates back to the demonstration on 8 December when the Venaus garrison was recaptured by the NO TAV movement. We found the garrison all destroyed, here and there clothes, a few books and a worker's helmet. I still remember holding it in my hands, it was blue and on it was written NO in red spray paint. We still have that helmet at home today. March 2022, Val di Susa, Turin, Italy

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The interior of the geognostic tunnel of the TAV Chiemonte site. Several environmental studies have shown that inside the mountain there is a large amount of asbestos, a substance which, if not treated appropriately, could cause major health problems for the site workers and the inhabitants of the Susa Valley. March 2022, Susa Valley, Turin, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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The San Didero presidium, which stands a few metres from the TAV construction site of the same name. The construction site is a heavily militarised area. The police are actually guarding an area that is currently empty and devoid of buildings. According to the plans of the TAV in a couple of years there will be a car port here and for fear that the land will be occupied by the NO TAV movement, the police have already occupied the area in advance. March 2022, Val di Susa, Turin, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - The barbed wire surrounding the San Didero construction site. March 2022, Val di Susa, Turin, Italy
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The barbed wire surrounding the San Didero construction site. March 2022, Val di Susa, Turin, Italy

© Matteo Trevisan - Image from the We are still dreaming photography project
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A specimen of the butterfly Zerynthia polyxena Geyer, preserved at the Department of Biology, University of Turin. May 2022, Turin, Italy

We are still dreaming by Matteo Trevisan

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