The symbolic photo of last summer's fires? Taken four years ago
Story of an image that has had hundreds of shares on social networks
At the end of last July, the news of the gigantic fires that devastated the Montiferru deeply affected the Sardinians. In those days we talked about nothing else. Also, of course, on social media. Where to tell the drama of those twelve thousand hectares of raped territory were often the images of the flames that devoured the woods and came to threaten people and houses from close up.
One photograph among others seems to have taken on the role of a symbol of the event: it shows a fireball, a reddish wall in front of which a man stands: framed from behind, wearing a dark t-shirt and, in a gesture of anger and despair, put your hands to your head. A powerful, effective image that moved many. Many have shared it, not only simple users of social networks but also blogs, information sites and newspapers, and many have commented, shaken by the emotions that that photo arouses: that man strongly represents the anger and despair of those who they found themselves counting dead cattle, destroyed crops, memories and efforts reduced to smoke.
Too bad that that photo was not taken in Montiferru and not even last July, but in another July: that of four years ago.
This is told by the author of that photo, whose name is Angelo Cucca, he was born in Iglesias 58 years ago and is a professional photographer whose images have been published for a long time by L'Unione Sarda. And p roprio on behalf of the newspaper on 9 July 2017 Angelo Cucca was in the countryside of Villamassargia to document the umpteenth day of fire experienced by our island. The right person in the right place: not only a capable photographer, but a fire expert, since for several years he worked as a volunteer in the firefighting teams of Villamassargia, Iglesias and Siliqua.
It was a Sunday afternoon, Cucca says, and in the previous days there had been small fires in the whole area. The situation was serious: along the provincial road leading to Domusnovas and Musei, five fires broke out, triggered in five different points, probably by someone who had driven that road, making several stops to set the fire. Around 3 pm the flames, fueled by the wind, were at their maximum strength. The Villamassargia railway station was shrouded in smoke, the fire threatened several sheepfolds from near, in Domusnovas the population had poured into the streets armed with buckets and hoes in an attempt to stem the flames: some gardens were burned. The Iglesiente photographer remembers seeing people spraying water with garden pumps, a man who risked his life to save his dogs.
The photo that became the symbol of the Montiferru fires was taken that afternoon in a large farm one kilometer and a half from the village of Villamassargia. Angelo Cucca knows the name and surname of the person portrayed from behind while despairing in front of a wall of fire: he is a worker who owns a countryside right in front of the burning farm. He had arrived there in a hurry because he feared that the fire had affected his farm and, given the gravity of the situation, he had stayed to lend a hand. When Angelo Cucca's lens captured his gesture, the man was prey to anger and the feeling of helplessness that is inevitable in front of an enemy with such overwhelming forces.
The photo was published in the copy of the Unione Sarda which arrived on newsstands on 10 July 2017. Its second life began on social media just over four years later, when the fires of Montiferru caused the same sensations in the Sardinians experienced four years ago by that worker from Villamassargia: anger and helplessness.
Rebuilding the chain of shares, hundreds, is impossible. On the Facebook page of the Iglesiente photographer, that photo is published along with many others, taken not only in Sardinia but around the world, and is signed. Someone must have copied and shared it, triggering a chain reaction: in the circulated copies, the lower part of the original image is missing: the one where the author's name and surname were written, indelible.
Angelo Cucca learned this because some friends recognized the image and warned him: “There is a photo of you that is making the rounds of the web”. Someone, in search of an ephemeral and false glory, had even signed it in his own name, passing himself off as an eyewitness. From individual social users the image ended up on groups and was also taken up by some online newspapers, and newspapers, unlike ordinary users, are for-profit activities and therefore are required to pay the authors of the photos they publish. Angelo Cucca armed himself with patience and contacted everyone he managed to track down, claiming ownership of that photo. Many have corrected and clarified, others have turned up to ask him for permission to share it. An artist also made a drawing based on that photo: “I was pleased”, confides the Iglesiente photographer. Who, however, lives a condition typical of image professionals in the days of social media: photos circulate, sometimes they have a lot of shares but this success does not turn into an adequate compensation for those who made them.
