© Book Supernatura by Annamaria Belloni

"Supernatura" by Annamaria Belloni opens with a dedication to Arianna, the author’s daughter. A dedication that is, in itself, an act of love: a mother choosing to share with her daughter not only images, but her own way of seeing the world. And not just any world, but the one that irresistibly draws her in—nature, flora, flowers, plants, vegetation in all its forms. The place does not matter—whether Munich, Tallinn, Piacenza, or some other elsewhere—nor does the season: what matters is this tenacious and constant attraction, capable of crossing latitudes and climates. The natural subject may appear in the most varied, sudden, or unexpected situations, but it is up to us to receive it.

© Book Supernatura by Annamaria Belloni

© Book Supernatura by Annamaria Belloni

© Annamaria Belloni

The book comes in a large format, which in its very physicality suggests breadth and openness. When the photographs stretch across a double page, the reader does not simply observe—they are enveloped, almost swallowed, by the vegetation. It is no longer a book to leaf through, but a gaze to step into. The visual experience becomes an immersion: leaves, petals, branches, and colors become living, tangible pages. It is as if the magnetic pull that nature exerts on the author is transmitted, unfiltered, to the viewer.

© Annamaria Belloni

© Annamaria Belloni

© Book Supernatura by Annamaria Belloni

In the closing lines of the text accompanying the volume, Belloni writes that beauty is often "just a whisper.” A phrase that, with disarming simplicity, distills the essence of the entire project. True beauty needs no amplifiers, no noise, no artifice. It does not need to be shouted; it must be caught. It is a gentle event, revealing itself in a sudden beam of light, in the reflection of a cloud, in the transparency of a dewdrop. It does not always need to be sought; sometimes it is enough to attune one’s gaze, to be ready to welcome it. It is like an accent placed on a forgotten word: it awakens attention, lends intensity to what passes before our eyes every day. The photographer’s implicit invitation is to rediscover this beauty in the language of the everyday, to recognize it where it already exists, silent. And it is akin to making peace with the very world we inhabit. This message is, in its own way, radical—not resignation, but an acceptance of our condition.

© Book Supernatura by Annamaria Belloni

© Book Supernatura by Annamaria Belloni

© Book Supernatura by Annamaria Belloni

The nature Belloni photographs is the one that surrounds us in its many forms: at times gagged by human presence, at times rarefied, artificial, vernacular, or exuberant in its grace and splendour. We may recognize it or overlook it. But when we do recognize it, something like enchantment occurs—a suspension of time in which our attention and thoughts are captivated. The photographs in Supernatura freeze these moments, capturing subtle resonances between the author and her natural subject. They are barely spoken dialogues, magical, in some ways incomprehensible, because they are not meant to be deciphered but experienced.

© Book Supernatura by Annamaria Belloni

© Book Supernatura by Annamaria Belloni

© Book Supernatura by Annamaria Belloni

People also appear in the images: not figures alien to the environment, but familiar presences, almost intimately inscribed in the scene. Their postures, more than poses, are moments of conscious symbiosis with the vegetation. In some shots they seem almost like self-portraits—fragments of a harmonious coexistence with nature, where the tension between human and environment gives way to wonder. Perhaps it is precisely in this participatory coexistence that a path toward tomorrow lies.

© Annamaria Belloni

© Book Supernatura by Annamaria Belloni

 Annamaria Belloni (website)