Revealing the Invisible Injustice of Extreme Heat
The extreme heat scientists have warned about for decades came to Europe again this summer, killing at least 30,000 people like a silent, invisible plague. It came for poor people, the very young and very old, and those suffering from debilitating conditions.
Heat is hard to see, but you feel it in the pavement, in the walls of poorly insulated apartments, in sweat that never quite dries and a bedroom that just won’t cool down. And people do not experience it equally.
Bologna photographer Michele Lapini made those differences visible, using his iPhone and a thermal sensor to document temperatures in homes, workplaces and public spaces as the heat gripped the city. The images show that construction workers in direct sun, delivery riders crossing the city and residents of old apartment buildings and poorly cooled senior centers inhabit radically different thermal worlds than people with access to air conditioning, shade and well-insulated homes.