Utopia

• Prize
  Silver in People/Life Style
• Photographer
  Carlo Bevilacqua

In 1516 Sir Thomas More coined the term “Utopia” to describe an idealistic society in which common principles are shared, people live by farming simply for survival and not for commerce and private properties and money are abolished. Thomas More created a neologism from ancient Greek by combining the words ou-tòpos (nowhere land) and eu-tòpos (happy place). The current shared significance of the meaning of “Utopia” is that it is a place of happiness, but impossible to reach. But what is Utopia today? There are diverse realities around the world, which have translated abstract intellectual thoughts into experiences, based on human qualities, but have they really given life to possible alternative ways of existence? 2016 mark the 500° anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s Utopia a I started this project about five years ago in the community of Slab City, California and I stopped in September 2015 in Vancouver Island, Canada. In an effort to define visually what is the meaning of utopia today I explored the world of so-called realized utopias: intentional communities, social, spiritual, hippie, anarchist,.. settlements where the residents experience and imagine alternative ways of living with the aim of reaching their happiness and sharing their experiences to build a better world At same time I tried to figure out how these communities, born decades ago, have evolved and how they managed to survive to the pressure of our dominant culture. So far, my project has taken me on a trip around the world from Italy to India, from France and Wales to Spain, Denmark, Holland and Lithuania, trough Usa until Vancouver Island.