Justin Hofman's Environmental Photography Debuts at Lecce Castle

Justin Hofman, a California-based naturalist photojournalist with a marine biology degree and experience as a scientific illustrator, presents his first solo exhibition in Lecce, Italy. Titled 'Abyss and Horizon,' the show is curated by Kunstschau and RTI Theutra Oasimed at Castello Carlo V. Hofman, a National Geographic explorer who has documented remote regions like Antarctica, Patagonia, Alaska, and Australia, displays mostly unpublished photographs capturing marine flora and fauna—including Chinstrap, Adelie, and Gentoo penguins, polar bears, white sharks, seals, fish, killer whales, algae, and corals—amidst icebergs and lunar-like landscapes, often interacting with trash and plastic. His iconic 2016 image 'Sewage Surfer,' depicting a seahorse grasping a cotton swab in Sumbawa, Indonesia, won the 2017 Wildlife Photojournalist Award and became a global symbol of environmental crisis. The exhibition highlights the contrast between nature's innocence and human pollution, emphasizing the urgency of ocean conservation.