Floating Islands,

The second book by Manfredi Gioacchini, the first one about immersion in contemporary art and now to avoid repeating itself, an immersion in Nature. A portfolio of photographs to raise awareness of the planet's last wilderness. Antarctica. In search of silence and the most remote places, the photos of the book "Floating Islands" make us experience moments of calm and bring us closer to the most important element, Water.

The whole trip, thanks to the Antarctica21 company that deals with travel to Antarctica in a sustainable way has been developed in “Circular Economy”.

Given the cost of this photographic expedition, Manfredi Gioacchini had the support of Acqua Foundation, Arc’teryx, Apple, L.G.R and British Airways to minimize expenses and thus making everything accessible.

The first edition, just published in 500 copies with obviously certified paper, was produced in a limited series in order not to create unused copies and therefore to be more efficient.

Taken from the preface:

“After suffering a great loss, I felt fragile and for some strange reason I found myself searching for the most fragile place in our world, Antarctica. I had heard of a call for an expedition, and with little success, at the beginning, I started looking for companies that organized these kinds of expeditions, specifically those that did it in the most sustainable way. After spending several weeks researching, I finally came across Antarctica21 with their new boat: the Magellan Explorer.

I was carried away by its name, but after reading the biography of Magellano by Stefan Zweig, I immediately knew it was destined. As mentioned, what I wanted to look for was purity and fragility, but above all silence. I found all of this, alas for those who have not seen it, because the spaces are indescribably majestic and uncontaminated, and you suddenly feel what a disaster it would be to infect it with our humanity. In any case, this trip was mainly linked to the pain I was feeling after losing my mother, to which I was very attached. In the end, it was the overarching element of water - the basis of everything - that brought me back to her".

Manfredi Gioacchini 

The first edition published in December 2020 

Limited edition of 500 copies 

All photographs by Manfredi Gioacchini 

Edited by Antonio Monfreda 

Designed by Paul Boussarie 

Illustrations by Giampiero Celani Piendlbach 

Postproduction by Alessandro Zoppis 

Film Developing by Il Colore, Rome 

Fontface Pontiac designed by La Goupil Paris 

Foreword written by Allison Cusick and Robert Gilmore 

Author’s introduction edited by Almerico Bartoli 

Production by Utg, NYC 

Published by Utg LLC., NYC 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission from the copyright holders. 

ISBN 978-0-578-80432-3 

Printed on Gardamatt 170gr and bounded in Italy 

Cover: “Head of an Iceberg”