Antonio Faccilongo: LOOSE THE ROOTS
29.10.2021
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Antonio Faccilongo
Antonio Faccilongo is an Italian documentary photographer and filmmaker, photography professor at Rome University of Fine Arts and is represented by Getty Reportage.
After graduating in communication sciences, and then obtaining a master in photojournalism, he focused his attention on Asia and the Middle East, principally in Israel and Palestine, covering social, political and cultural issues.
Documenting the aftermath of Palestinian-Israeli conflict in West Bank and Gaza Strip, he sought to unveil and highlight the humanitarian issues hidden within one of the world’s most reported conflicts, because too often it is shown only as a place of war and conflict.
His long-term projects about women and their families in Palestine have received several awards and grants including World Press Photo story of the year, 1st prize in long-term projects category at World Press Photo, FotoEvidence Book Award with World Press Photo, Getty editorial grant and 1st prize World Understanding Award at POYi Pictures of the year International.
Other awards and honors have included being recognized by PhMuseum, Gomma Grant, LuganoPhotoDays, Umbria World Fest, Kuala Lumpur Photo Awards, PDN Photo Annual Awards, Feature Shoot and was finalist at Visa D'or and Lucas Dolega and shortlisted 2 times at Alexia Foundation.
Furthermore his long-term projects have been exhibited internationally at numerous shows and festivals including 2 times at World Press Photo Festival, Les Rencontres d’Arles, Zoom Festival, Festival della fotografia etica, Exposure Photography Festival, Buenos Aires Biennial, screened at Visa pour l'image Perpignan and was included on global campaign #WomenMatter against the violence toward women made by Dysturb.
His work and assignments have been published in some of the most prominent international publications including National Geographic, Time, Stern, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, Geo, The Guardian, 6Mois, Paris Match, Focus, Sette, L'Espresso, Internazionale and many others.
My relationship with photography began with medium format analog cameras when I was a child. So the square format, but also the dials and the rangefinder, have always been part of my creative process. In 2012 when I discovered that Fujifilm had launched a mirrorless camera on the market with the characteristics of my old analogue cameras, but with all the advantages of digital, I immediately fell in love with it. The X-Pro1 was the first in a long line of compact, lightweight, high-performance lens cameras that I used for my projects over the next 10 years. In particular, my work Habibi, which has received numerous awards and was the story of the year for World Press Photo 2021 and first prize in the category of long-term projects, was made entirely with Fujifilm cameras and lenses. This equipment contributed greatly to giving me the expressive freedom I needed. The possibility of previewing square and the ease of use of the dials allowed me to free myself from the rigidity of the technique and to concentrate on the intimate images.
