Matera's Nine Lives - Stina Roth Photography Exhibition

I am Stina Roth, a photographer from Helsinki. I have been photographing for about 15 years and documented many different subjects, but in recent years my interest has increasingly focused on nature and the relationship between humans and the environment.

The photographs for the "Matera's Nine Lives" exhibition were created during my trip to Italy this spring, and the exhibition serves as my final project in the "Professional Skills in Nature Photography" programme.

Matera is a city in southern Italy, in the province of Basilicata. It is particularly known for its cave dwellings, Sassi di Matera, which are carved into soft limestone. Matera is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities - people have lived in these rock walls since the Paleolithic era. For a long time, Matera was seen as a symbol of poverty and miserable living conditions, but the city underwent major changes in the late 20th century when the Sassi area was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, the old caves serve as homes, hotels, and cultural spaces.

In Matera's old urban landscape, cats are an inseparable part of everyday life. Stone staircases, cave shelters, and quiet alleyways form a habitat for semi-wild cats that move freely alongside residents and visitors. In Italy, cats are protected by law, and street cat communities are allowed to live in the areas that have formed for them.

In these photographs, I examine this quiet coexistence - how people and cats share Matera's stone city on their own terms and blend into the same, time-layered everyday life.

Best regards

Stina Roth