The historical phase we are currently living through, the so-called “Years of Terror,” began in the late 1980s when the United States used the mujahideen to fight the Red Army in Afghanistan. It was the first in a long series of “humanitarian wars” portrayed by mainstream media as “peacekeeping operations”: Afghanistan in 2001, Iraq in 2003, Libya in 2011, Syria since 2012. But behind the grand declarations about exporting democracy lay much deeper geopolitical calculations and economic motives.

War, once considered an art form with its own essential code of ethics, has been transformed into a total phenomenon aimed at annihilating the other in the name of a presumed superiority of the Western model. To carry it out, aerial raids are launched on territories, drone strikes are carried out remotely, or mercenary groups are financed on the ground to destroy a country’s vital infrastructure.

The consequences are traumatic for the population, who suddenly find themselves thrust into a ruthless, infamous, and painful daily reality. Too often, we hear the stories of those who flee, forgetting the courage of those who choose to stay—whether on the frontlines or behind the scenes—to defend their land.

The photographic project A Shameless Life by Luca Catalano Gonzaga captures the anguish and hopes of men, women, and children who still live today in countries afflicted by modern warfare.
(Text by Sebastiano Caputo)