21 hours ago
Trying to keep cool in an increasingly hot world
As temperatures rise around the world, the inequality between those who can afford to stay cool and those forced to suffer is laid ever more bare. For some, air conditioning is a given; for others it is an unaffordable luxury.
The photographer Gaia Squarci and researcher Jacopo Crimi visited Brazil, India, Indonesia and Italy to photograph the stories of people in extreme heat and how they are learning to adapt to it.
Their project, The Cooling Solution, visualises how people are adapting to rising temperatures and humidity among different socioeconomic groups, and investigates how accessible air conditioning is for these people.
31C (87.8F) | 65% humidity | An office worker at the Ministry of Public Works, a green building in Jakarta, Indonesia, 2022
Crimi said a lot of modern architecture was made up of isolated, air-conditioned units that crammed people in together. But after realising these flaws, some architects began using new technologies to designed buildings that do not rely on AC.
'We wanted to show positive examples,' said Crimi. 'Architects were implementing both modern ways of tackling heat, such as the building in the photo, but as well reviving ancient architecture. A solution exists for alternatives to air conditioning, but it requires affluence.'
28C | 71% | A family on a scooter in the Kemayoran neighbourhood of Jakarta, with high-rise buildings in the background, 2022
Squarci said the streets of this subdistrict in Jakarta were crammed with scooters with multiple riders on them. The temperature of the motorbikes and the weather made it an uncomfortable commute for riders and 'even if there is family in the photo, it speaks to the mass and plurality of people's experience', she said.
With large buildings in the background, the photo illustrates a division of wealth between those in technologically developed areas and others exposed to the extreme heat on the streets.
29C | 72% | Children dive in the Cachoeira Piscininha do Silvestre, a waterfall in the neighbourhood of Cosme Velho in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, 2022
In this photo, young children swim in a pond to cool down. Although it is not the case here, there are cases when entering a polluted body of water is the only means for some people to escape the heat, leading to severe health risks.
'When deciding for this project how we were going to represent the topic of air conditioning, we decided we had to represent people from all social classes. Those with AC and those without,' said Squarci.
32C | 50% | Anna Gabriela Patrocinio Gregório (centre) and her daughters Lara, eight, and Sãnella, five, pose for a portrait at their home in a favela in the Santa Teresa neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro
Crimi said: 'We found that the photos that were the most interesting and told the deepest story were the ones closely related to the intimate dimensions of a person.'
Gregório said that while she was pregnant with her two children, she often felt sick and fainted because of the heat. With no windows in her house, she had to rely on a small fan on the floor to stay cool.
26C | 77% | Residents of Rio's Bangu district chat outside a shopping centre, a desirable destination because it has AC, 2022
This modern shopping centre in Bangu was built with air conditioning and attracts locals trying to escape the heat.
Access to these air-conditioned spaces is especially important for the demographics that struggle most with heat, such as elderly people and children. For people who cannot afford an AC unit at home, these air-conditioned public spaces are often the only places where they can find respite.
26C | 77% | People stand in the streets of the fishing village of Worli, overlooking the residential buildings of Mahim, now a wealthy area of Mumbai, India, 2019
The unequal levels of wealth and affluence in Mumbai are shown on the two sides of the river, distinguishing the technologically advanced city in the background from the underdeveloped small settlement in the foreground.
Squarci said the photo 'shows the transformation of the city, developing much faster in emerging countries than other areas that are trailing behind, living without the means to adapt to the growing heat'.
28C | 34% | Visitors gather to watch an informational video in an air-conditioned room of the Nehru Planetarium in Delhi, India, 2019
Spaces such as hotels, leisure centres and planetariums in India are accessible locations for wealthy people to enjoy air conditioning. The cinema room at this planetarium had AC installed, but for Squarci and Crimi, the room felt extremely cold and was in stark contrast to the heat experienced by lower socioeconomic groups in India.
Squarci said the photo symbolised 'the abuse of AC, and I did not want to perpetrate visual stereotypes in these developing countries. It is important to include examples of the higher middle class and their experience in India and Brazil.'
31C | 60% | Tourists take over Piazza San Marco during the Festa del Redentore in Venice, Italy, 2015. The offer of flats for short stays is one of the main drivers of AC adoption in tourist cities
At Piazza San Marco in Venice, tourists and residents must both endure and attempt to enjoy. The photo captures a child being thrown into the air, which Squarci described as 'a need to make the image interesting. Even when we are talking about something sensitive, I welcome anything that can catch people's attention. There are moments of joy and moment of leisure, even in these extreme situations.'
22C | 62% | A man stands on the balcony of a residential building in Bolzano, Italy, in the shadow of trees shielding him from the direct summer sun, 2022
The photo, taken from a hotel window, shows an older man leaning out of his balcony under the shade of a tree. Squarci and Crimi said: 'One of the most vulnerable demographics are the elderly, and because there was shade on the side of the building, he could thankfully access the open air.'
The pair chose to visit Italy for this project because they want to connect western audiences to their message and bring the issue closer to home.
25C | 75% | A German family sits in the shade of a boat pulled aground on a beach in Stromboli, a volcanic island near Sicily, Italy, 2022
The shadow of a boat was the only shade on the beach. They said they did not expect it to be this unbearably hot, and the father said they 'scrambled for a little piece of relief from the heat' in the shadow of the boat.
Squarci and Crimi said they often found themselves taking shelter in similar ways while working on the project.
28C | 68% | Andrea Squarci, 69, watches a tennis match on TV during a heatwave at Lido dei Pini, a seaside location about an hour away from Rome. The house where Andrea lives with his wife, Chiara, since his retirement in 2019, is right in front of the sea
Squarci said her father usually did not use air conditioning and would open a window to let a breeze into the house, but that on rare occasions the temperature would be too hot for him and he would have to turn on the AC.
Squarci took the photo of her father because she wanted to show a middle-class Italian person who could afford air conditioning and used it sparingly.
