In recent years, the energy transition has forced a paradigm shift in our economies, accelerating the race towards renewable sources and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. However, this epochal change has made a new problem increasingly evident: the growing demand for critical minerals. Materials such as lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earths have become essential for the production of batteries, solar panels, wind turbines and other key sustainability technologies. As a result, the extraction and trade of these resources are reshaping global geopolitical and economic dynamics, raising questions about their availability, accessibility and the social and ecological costs associated with them.

With his project Critical Minerals – Geography of Energy, Davide Monteleone - winner of the Oskar Barnack Award 2024 and the Deloitte Photo Grant 2024 - investigates the implications of this transformation, crossing the routes of the new race for raw materials. Through a combination of documentary photography, infographics and scientific research, Monteleone builds a visual narrative that reveals the contradictions of the energy transition: if on the one hand the adoption of clean energy is essential to combat climate change, on the other it risks reproducing the mechanisms of exploitation and inequality already seen in the past with coal and oil.

In the wake of the great tradition of documentary photography, Monteleone uses images as means to decipher the dynamics of the contemporary world, revealing details often invisible to the public eye. His work moves between reportage and conceptual art, with a strong research approach that integrates data, testimonies and economic analysis.

This exhibition is not just a photographic display, but an open reflection on our development model: is a truly fair and sustainable energy transition possible? Or are we repeating the same mistakes of the past, shifting the burden of progress onto those who have the least say?

Through this visual investigation, Critical Minerals – Geography of Energy invites the viewer to question the hidden price of sustainability, stimulating greater awareness of the choices that will determine the future of the planet.