Inizio

A monograph and exhibition catalogue of photographs of the Granducale di Montecchio Estate in Cortona, Italy, which is owned by Aboca, an Italian company which manufactures and distributes herbal products and natural medicines. The work was commissioned for the 2018 Cortona on the Move festival. The project, which deals with the conservation of biodiversity at Montecchio, was initiated in 2017 by curator Arianna Rinaldo and involves a different photographer commissioned to make a new work each year, over the course of five years. The first commission, Rinascita, was German photographer Jessica Backhaus. Roberts’ work, titled Inizio (Italian for ‘beginning’), was the second commission and explores the relationship between man and the natural landscape. Montecchio was built in the 18th century at the behest of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pietro Leopoldo of the Habsburg-Lorraine family. The land was bought by Aboca in 2011 and has undergone major restructuring given the land was heavily depleted in the past by the intensive cultivation of sugar beet. It is now used for the cultivation of medicinal plants, which provide the raw materials for the production of medical products and 100% natural supplements. T