A public showers’ user rests at the entrance of the Public Baths of Via Bianzé in Turin, Italy, on December 06, 2018. The city of Turin still runs 4 communal baths - part of a much bigger series of 15 buildings erected between 1900 and 1960 - offering a basic service for those living in harsh housing conditions. Since the beginning of the XX century, Public Baths in Turin played a key role in mitigating the systemic housing crisis, worsened in the past years due to the city’s economic downfall. © Michele Spatari

Rising Water

Michele Spatari

2017 – 2018 — Italy

About this series

Shared toilets on buildings’ balconies, overcrowded apartments, occupied factories, social housing attendance lists, and forced evictions.
The most used word in Italy’s last public showers is as simple as, apparently, unattainable: “home”.
House expenses account for 36% of the annual expenditure of Italian families.
32,069 evictions were executed in 2017, 2799 in Turin only: the highest rate among Italian cities, an average of 7 every day.
To cope with its systemic housing crisis – exacerbated by the economic collapse of the 2000s – the city of Turin still runs 4 communal baths offering a basic service for those living in harsh housing conditions. It can be seen as an outdated memory of the past, but municipal baths hide stories of social cohesion and solidarity, still playing a key role in the struggle for a shelter.
While being a needed service, the very existence of these public showers clearly shows the breakdown of our society: the failure of the right to a decent accommodation.

Andrea Rosso (45) portrayed inside the Public Baths of Via Agliè in the working-class district of Barriera di Milano in Turin, Italy, on November 21, 2018. Mr. Rosso separated from his ex-wife in July; since he couldn’t afford a space for himself, he is now sleeping on friends’ couches - 9 different places in 5 months – and became a regular user of Via Agliè’s Public Bath. © Michele Spatari
Jacob Bamba (30) is portrayed on the rooftop of the Public Baths of Via Agliè in the working-class district of Barriera di Milano in Turin, Italy, on November 25, 2018. Mr. Bamba - who arrived in Turin when he was 18 - has lived for 2 years in a small apartment with 12 other people; frequenting the public showers’ social network has allowed Mr. Bamba to free himself of a degrading condition. He now works as a cultural mediator and is well-known in the troubled neighbourhood as a social rapper, advocating for migrants’ integration and better life conditions. © Michele Spatari
A towel abandoned by a user at the entrance of the Public Baths of Via Bianzé in Turin, Italy, on November 20, 2018. The 4 public lavatories are part of a much bigger series of 15 buildings erected between 1900 and 1960 with different and entangling architecture styles, which served as public lavatory and restrooms when the average housing conditions didn’t guarantee toilettes and showers in every house. These buildings have played an important role in the development of many neighbourhoods and community. Despite the unavailability of global data about the service, more than 4000 visitors were counted entering this structure still run by the Municipality. © Michele Spatari
Gurpreet Dhindsa (38) is portrayed inside his former house in the working class district of San Salvario in Turin, Italy, on November 20, 2018. Mr. Dhindsa lived for 2 years in a small overcrowded apartment – with sometimes 10 people in a single room. In December, the Bangladeshi apartment owner locked him out at night, forcing him to call the police for the 4th time to enter the house and recover his possessions. © Michele Spatari
The bedroom of an apartment inhabited by a family of four, with a shared toilet on the balcony, in the working class district of Barriera di Milano in Turin, on July 18, 2017. Since the beginning of the XX century, Public Baths in Turin played a key role in mitigating the systemic housing crisis, worsened in the past years due to the city’s economic downfall. © Michele Spatari
A showers' user whose nickname is "Gino", portrayed at the Public Baths of Via Agliè in the working class district of Barriera di Milano in Turin, Italy, on November 30, 2018. Mr. Gino, his wife and their two children live in an old social housing unit with no shower and a shared toilet on the balcony; they use the public showers, twice a week, hoping to save enough money to start a mortgage for a new house. © Michele Spatari
Amadou Diallo (57) is portrayed inside the Public Baths of Via Agliè in the working class district of Barriera di Milano in Turin, Italy, on December 05, 2018. Mr.Diallo has spent the last 8 years homeless, between the streets and municipal dormitories; he’s now hosted in emergency shelters installed by the Municipality in Piazza dell'Armi. ©Michele Spatari
Gurpreet Dhindsa (38) looks out the window from the Red Cross dormitory in Piazza Massaua in Turin, Italy, on December 04, 2018. After being kicked out, Mr. Dhindsa passed the following nights in the waiting room of a nearby hospital and he is now forced to sleep in public dormitories, such as the one in Piazza Massaua, and use public showers. © Michele Spatari
A shower in the Public Baths of Via Agliè in the working-class district of Barriera di Milano in Turin, Italy, on July 12, 2017. Turin has the highest rate of evictions/population in Italy: 2799 forced evictions were executed in 2017 only, on a total of 32,069 in the whole country. An average of 7 every day. © Michele Spatari
Marcello Fonti (43) looks out of the window from the RV where he lives , parked outside the Public Baths of Via Agliè in the working-class district of Barriera di Milano in Turin, Italy, on November 22, 2018. Mr. Fonti hasn't had a home since 2003, moving around Torino; during the summer he bathes himself outside, in rivers and streams, but during the cold months he goes to the Public Baths for a hot shower. © Michele Spatari
Rok Ibe (30) in the showers’ entrance inside the Public Baths of Via Bianzé in Turin, Italy, on December 06, 2018. Mr. Ibe lives with his parents on the outskirt of Torino; given that they can’t afford to pay housing bills, they are forced to live without heating and hot water. Since the beginning of the XX century, Public Baths in Turin played a key role in mitigating the systemic housing crisis, worsened in the past years due to the city’s economic downfall. © Michele Spatari
 

Photographer: Michele Spatari
Nationality: Italian
Based in: Johannesburg, South Africa
Website: www.michelespatari.com 
Instagram: @michelespatari

Michele (b. 1991 – Bologna) is a news and documentary photographer based in Johannesburg, where he mainly strings for AFP – Agence France-Presse in southern Africa.
His photographic, journalistic and documentarian practice is focused on the study of bodies and space: how politics, religions and social rituals affect and shape contemporary cities and urban societies.

In 2016 he graduated in Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Ferrara developing a master thesis on the role of public spaces in post-conflict cities, with a research semester in Beirut, Lebanon. In 2017 Michele attended the ICP Masterclass Visual Storytelling and New Media. In 2018 he completed a one-year program in Photojournalism at the ISFCI – Superior Institute of Photography in Rome, Italy and he has been selected for the Nikon-NOOR Academy Italy and for the Canon Student Program at Visa Pour l’Image, Perpignan.
In the same year his project about public showers and housing crisis in Turin won the Canon Italy Young Photographer Award – Multimedia and has been exhibited at Cortona On The Move Festival.
In 2019 Michele has been selected by Canon Europe and Matera European Photography as the Italian representative in Visions from Europe, an artistic residency for Matera European Capital of Culture 2019. 

Michele started working as a freelance photographer in 2017 .
His work appeared on international media such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Le Monde, Time, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, El Pais, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, L’Espresso, Internazionale, Courier International, La Repubblica, and others.

Michele speaks English, Italian, French, has good command of Portuguese, Spanish. Since 2019 he is a member of the Frontline Freelance Register.


Awards:
2018: Canon Italy Young Photographer Award – 1st prize  

Exhibitions:
2019: Geopolis – Centre du Photojournalisme, Brussels – Rising Water
2019: Palazzo Viceconti, Matera 2019 European Capital of Culture – Visions from Europe
2019: Corigliano Calabro Fotografia – The Guardians of the Mountain
2019: FoTo Torino – Rising Water
2018: Cortona On The Move International Photography Festival – Acqua Alta
2018: Camera Work Off, Ravenna – Atopia
2016: Antonello Ghezzi Studio, Bologna – Leila
2015: Case Aperte, Bologna – In/Out

Residencies:
2019: Matera 2019 European Capital of Culture, Visions from Europe – with Canon Europe

Education:
2018: Master in Photojournalism – ISFCI, Rome
2018: Nikon – NOOR Images Academy in Turin, Italy
2018: Canon Student Program @ Visa Pour l’Image, Perpignan, France
2017: ICP – International Center of Photography Masterclass – Visual storytelling and new media 
2016: Master degree in Architecture – University of Ferrara