Photo © guido gazzilli
Talent of the Year 2020 - FINALIST: guido gazzilli
Beyond the Borders
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“Beyond the Borders”
( Lampedusa , Sicily 2010- 2019)
Lampedusa is the most Southern Italian island. It is very small, just 6.300 inhabitants. Today the island is one of the most important gate of access to Europe for immigrants coming from the African continent.
First Jme I came to Lampedusa, 3 years ago, I documented the arrival of 20.000 immigrants escaping from their homeland thorn apart by war and riots.
I met Ahmed, a 23-year-old Tunisian. "I left for my future, for my family," he told me.What really hit me during my stay was the reaction of locals while they were assisting at this invasion. These people, during the past 20 years, have been welcoming desperate human beings in search for a better life with solidarity and silence. Lampedusa inhabitants are a small community that showed me great respect for human dignity and how it is possible to pursue pacific cohabitation. These islanders are simple people, with souls deep as their sea, that fronted the desperation of the immigrants not with fear, but with an helping hand.
So many stories should be told, stories of hope, stories of love, most of them truly tragic. I focused on the islanders and on Lampedusa as a border territory and also on the story of this young man Ahmed. The following images are the diary of the people I met during these years, places I visited, houses I entered and of what Lampedusa and its inhabitants mean to me.
This work is my small contribution to give back to people who has been giving so much for years without nothing in exchange.
I tried also to capture photographs able to transmit the single moments of the stay of Ahmed , his fears for the future, and his relationship with the island.
This documentary project aims to investigate human connections without borders. The living conditions of the people of Lampedusa are unique, making them an incomparable subject for such a study.
About author:
I was born in Rome (1983).
I graduated from the IED of Rome on Photography and Visual Art (BA).
In the same year I started shooting the underground music scene and youth subcultures in London and Italy.
In the most recent years, I mainly focused on stories concerning cultural and social issues.
I have also a great interests in Portraits and Video Documentaries.
I worked as an assistant for Magnum photographer Paolo Pellegrin.
I exhibited and published my work in a number of international galleries and magazines and I was awarded several times.
I am represented by LUZphoto Agency.
I Taught storytelling in a Visual Art Academy in Rome.
Currently I am working on personal and commissioned projects.
( Lampedusa , Sicily 2010- 2019)
Lampedusa is the most Southern Italian island. It is very small, just 6.300 inhabitants. Today the island is one of the most important gate of access to Europe for immigrants coming from the African continent.
First Jme I came to Lampedusa, 3 years ago, I documented the arrival of 20.000 immigrants escaping from their homeland thorn apart by war and riots.
I met Ahmed, a 23-year-old Tunisian. "I left for my future, for my family," he told me.What really hit me during my stay was the reaction of locals while they were assisting at this invasion. These people, during the past 20 years, have been welcoming desperate human beings in search for a better life with solidarity and silence. Lampedusa inhabitants are a small community that showed me great respect for human dignity and how it is possible to pursue pacific cohabitation. These islanders are simple people, with souls deep as their sea, that fronted the desperation of the immigrants not with fear, but with an helping hand.
So many stories should be told, stories of hope, stories of love, most of them truly tragic. I focused on the islanders and on Lampedusa as a border territory and also on the story of this young man Ahmed. The following images are the diary of the people I met during these years, places I visited, houses I entered and of what Lampedusa and its inhabitants mean to me.
This work is my small contribution to give back to people who has been giving so much for years without nothing in exchange.
I tried also to capture photographs able to transmit the single moments of the stay of Ahmed , his fears for the future, and his relationship with the island.
This documentary project aims to investigate human connections without borders. The living conditions of the people of Lampedusa are unique, making them an incomparable subject for such a study.
About author:
I was born in Rome (1983).
I graduated from the IED of Rome on Photography and Visual Art (BA).
In the same year I started shooting the underground music scene and youth subcultures in London and Italy.
In the most recent years, I mainly focused on stories concerning cultural and social issues.
I have also a great interests in Portraits and Video Documentaries.
I worked as an assistant for Magnum photographer Paolo Pellegrin.
I exhibited and published my work in a number of international galleries and magazines and I was awarded several times.
I am represented by LUZphoto Agency.
I Taught storytelling in a Visual Art Academy in Rome.
Currently I am working on personal and commissioned projects.