Opening thursday 9th october at 6.30 p.m.

10th october 2025 – 8th november 2025

ASSAB ONE, via Privata Assab 1, Milano

From October 10 to November 8, the exhibition That thing that never vanished will be display at Assab One in Milan. It is dedicated to the Emanuele Satolli‘s photographic work and accompanied by the book, That thing that never vanished , published by Gost Books.

The exhibition was realized by Zona and Gramma Studio with the support of Fondazione Cariplo and Fondazione Carifac, in collaboration with Laboratorio Lapsus, Assab One, and studioamatoriale. It presents, for the first time, the photographic work of Emanuele Satolli through an extensive selection spanning more than a decade of reportage from major conflict zones and humanitarian crises of our time.

From Ukraine, documented since the first day of the Russian invasion, to Mosul and Raqqa during the battles against ISIS; from Gaza to Afghanistan, Satolli’s work focuses on individual experiences and the human condition exposed to the tragedy of war.

Related to the exhibition and book, the project includes educational activities and workshops with schools, designed to engage students in critical reflection on conflicts and the role of photography.

“In an age saturated with digital imagery – including propaganda, disinformation, and synthetic productions generated by artificial intelligence – Satolli’s work reaffirms the enduring role of photography as both witness and custodian of memory.”, written Giulia Tornari,  founder of Zona and Gramma Studio, curator of the exhibition.

“His images bear testimony to lives scarred by war and landscapes devastated by it, distinguished by an extraordinary proximity to their
subjects and by an ability to convey the intimacy of experiences lived under extreme conditions, while upholding a balance of documentary rigour and ethical responsibility.”

In the words of James Marson, head of the Wall Street Journal’s Ukraine bureau, in the That thing that never vanished’s text: “ War stirs the blood. Teeth gritted. Jaw clenched. Heart pounding. Is death around the corner? Yours or someone else’s? The mundanity of everyday life recedes. It’s here, on the edge of life and death, that one really lives. Everything matters, because the stakes couldn’t be higher.

How did we get here? Thousands of years have passed, and the purposes of war haven’t changed: defending a homeland, a people, a resource—or seizing someone else’s. What sends someone to war also remains the same: money, pride, loyalty, ambition.”