The Po river flows for nearly 400 miles through four different regions of Northern Italy, from its source in the mountains of Piedmont to its wide delta in the Adriatic Sea. The longest river in Italy, about 16 million people live along its banks, and more than a third of Italy’s industries and agricultural production are concentrated there. In 2017 the Japanese photographer Sohei Nishino (born 1982) traveled along the river, taking hundreds of photographs which he then combined in collages and arranged in large tableaux. His portrait of the river is composed of a multitude of faces, industrial landscapes, glimpses of the river, city views and scenes of everyday life, thus combining details and broad views, and creating an image-filled polyptych. The photographer’s second monograph, Water Line: A Story of the Po River brings together over 80 previously unpublished black-and-white images.
