Francesco Zizola

Bio | Selected Stories | Selected Portraits | News, Education & exhibitions | Books & Prints

Every six hours a child dies on the streets of Brazil. The "meninho de rua" (child of the street) is the symbol of Brazil's degradation. There are around 12 million street children in Brazil. These children are reflections of civil society's cruelty

Kuito, Bie province, Angola. June, 17th 2002.
A girl running in front of a building used to be the school.

Chongqing, Sichuan province, China. February 1998.
This city on the Yangtze River is one of China's most industrialized and polluted.

After spending two days and two nights on the MSF Bourbon Argos, rescued migrants catch sight of the Italian coast for the first time. 23 August 2015

Rio San Juan, Colombia, 22.07.2007
Violence is the biggest obstacle hindering an improvement in public welfare. It is always more difficult to have access to medical assistance In conflict areas.
Local and international medical staff heve been made

2007 Addu Atoll
A girl child plays in Hithadu,

South Sudan. 23 March 2011.

A Dinka boy among cattle in the enclosure of a cattle camp following the herds in areas that maintain water and pasture during the dry season.

Bio

Based in Rome, Italy

Available for commissions& assignments

Francesco Zizola (Italy) has documented the world's major conflicts and their hidden crisis, focusing on the social and humanitarian issues that define life in the developing world as well as in western countries.

A strong ethical commitment and a distinctive aesthetic eye are specific features of his pictures.

His assignments and personal projects have taken him around the world, giving him the opportunity to carefully portray forgotten crises and relevant issues often disregarded by the mainstream media.

In 2008 he founded 10b Photography (Rome, Italy), a multipurpose centre for digital photography promoting photography culture through exhibitions, workshops and lectures.

He received several awards over the years, including ten awards in World Press Photo contests and four Picture of the Year International awards (POYi).

In 2003 Henri Cartier-Bresson included one of Francesco's pictures among his 100 favorites. This collection was made into an exhibition - Les Choix d'Henri Cartier-Bresson - and a book.

Francesco published seven books, among which Uno Sguardo Inadeguato (Collana Grandi Autori, FIAF, 2013), Iraq (Ega/Amnesty International, 2007) and Born Somewhere (Delpire/Fusi Orari, 2004), an extensive work on the living conditions of children from 27 different countries.

In 2014 he was a jury member of the World Press Photo Contest. In 2016 Francesco has been awarded 2nd prize in the Contemporary Issues category of World Press Photo for his series ‘In the Same Boat‘. In 2018 he was awarded the SIAE Prize for Creative Talent at the Venice Film Festival for his movie 'As if we were tuna', selected for 'Giornate degli autori', the autonomous review inside the Festival'

Selected Stories

In the same boat

Early in May the international medical relief organization Médecins Sans Frontières (M.S.F.) joined in the Mediterranean search and rescue operations launching three ships at different stages: the Phoenix (run by the Migrant Offshore Aid Station), the Bourbon Argos and Dignity.

Francesco was on board of the Bourbon Argos in August and September 2015, documenting the rescue of over three thousand migrants.

open the project

Born Somewhere

Born Somewhere portrays the lives of children in 27 countries.

Francesco Zizola has spent 15 years documenting the condition of children around the world.

AS IF WE WERE TUNA

Between April and June, large shoals of bluefin tuna come in from the ocean to reach the clear and warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea. And skilled Italian tonnaroti, the tuna fishermen, lay in wait, casting big and complex nets into the sea - tuna traps tied to floats and ready to lead the fish through a maze of chambers, perpatuating a sacred ritual which has inspired poets and philosophers through the ages.