Emerging Photographer Grant 2010 Recipient
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Davide Monteleone
Northern Caucasus
Northern Caucasus is a mix of stereotypes as well as surprises. For centuries it has been a country of political, religious, military and expansionist rivalry, a struggle between opposing states, and also between allied states. Ever since the beginning of the 19th century, this region has been part of the tsarist Russian Empire, later absorbed by the Soviet Block.
With the 1991 radical transformations involving the entire Warsaw Pact coalition, and the storm caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union, new and ancient disputes resurfaced, and in some cases worsened, and revived political and economic aims of supremacy in the area.
This project takes into account the regions in which these disputes are not over yet, or may be apparently concluded, as intermittent fires under the political rhetoric of normalization and pacification. I intend to investigate with without prejudices such reality, beginning with the daily life of people living in the Northern Caucasus, who never reached their coveted independence and are still suffering the ramifications of the Russian Empire during the colonial age. They are divided between the claim for independence and the pride for their diversity, economic subordination, the historical-political and mental affiliation, the condemnation to an eternal geographic position in a limbo limes, and the elaboration of a new post-soviet identity. My goal is to go further away from the bird’s eye view of the geopolitical analysis, gliding down to a low altitude to find the details of such a complex world, with the aim to give a new key to the present day Russian Caucasus.
I’ve been working from Chechnya to Dagestan, from Northern to Southern Ossetia, just after the war in August 2008, all the way to Abkhazia, from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea coasts, crossing geographical and political borders. My interest isn’t to cover the news that brought the region back under the international floodlights, but to carry on a considered path by making notes of the tracks left behind.
Bio
Born in 1974, Davide Monteleone spent the first 18 years of his life moving to various cities of Italy because of the work of his parents. After graduating, he studied engineering and then stopped to move to the U.S. and after that to England. Is here that he discovered his interest in photography and journalism. Back in Italy in 2000, he completed his studies in photography and journalism and began working with the major Italian magazines. At the end of 2001 he moved again, this time to Moscow, where he lived until 2003 working as correspondent for the photo agency Contrasto. This choice proved to be determining for his career. He started working regularly with major national and international newspapers such as D, Io Donna L’espresso, New York Times, Time, Stern, and the New Yorker. Since 2003 he lives both in Italy and Russia, where he is pursuing long-term personal projects and continues his editorial work. He published his first book Dusha, Russian Soul in 2007.
Editor’s Note:
Davide will receive $15,000. from Burn Magazine through the Magnum Cultural Foundation to continue his work in the Northern Caucasus.
-dah-
Related links
Great work !
en hora buena !
un saludo
Strike:
http://fotofestival-hannover.de/aktuell.html?&L=1
Festival for young photojournalism, Hannover, Germany:
“The winner of this year’s »Freelens-Award« is Davide Monteleone. With his story »Northern Caucasus« the Italian photographer won a prize money of 10.000 €. The award was presented by Thomas Höpker in the atrium of the multimedia vocational school this evening.”
Congratulazioni, Davide, stay safe!
Davide, Congratulations on all the awards and the once to come! It’s well deserved! Chantal
Great work by Davide and well deserved prize, but honestly… “emerging photographer”???? Davide Monteleone??? Winner of two world press photo awards, an IPA, longtime Contrasto affiliate, author of various books…. in my opinion, he is to be considered a veteran.
aaparently an emerging photographer here is everyone who is not an icon yet…
Yeah, I guess so, it would be great to have an answer from the organizers… David? What do you think?
david who?
I like the collection of photo’s.
Shows the skills of an experienced and honed photographer. One that has produced numerous books that have won numerous international awards, has won ipa’s and a world press photo, has worked in a well known agency for 8 years and has exhibited regularly and frequently for the past 8 years.
Emerged photographer award maybe.
Emerging icon maybe.
Emerging photographer? he is clearly not.
I respect the photographer and his work and glad it exists but there are plenty of suitable awards that fit his position and which he has already been recipient of.
I have little confidence in the burn ethos as it seems grounded in a necessity to prove itself as being the best out there. Is the reason that a non-emerged winner did not win the award because there was not one suitable of the burn award?
If this is so then please say so.
There are many young photographers out there doing interesting though provoking work but are limited by commercial viability and the market. Patting the back of a “made” photographer further breaks the backs of the emerging, you name and fame have heralded this site as a beacon for those looking to seek out an education in a new generations response to the medium. Sadly the market does not have the time to discover for itself but relies on a handful of personalities and bodies that dominate the field.
I find it problematic that this sits is attempting to gain success as a commercial entity heralding in a new form dealing with the market and that of attempting to be a platform for fresh new emerging photographers.
I’m concerned that Burn is becoming part of the problem and not the solution.
Maybe it is more about what the photographer is doing than the photographer himself. Remember it is funding designed to support continuation of a photographer’s personal project.
Could be that the term emerging is to narrow perhaps? People are taking it for its literal meaning? Making wine out of sour grapes? In the end the 10 big ones have gone to a committed photographer with a pretty nifty project that seems to have a good spin on it.
Dunno about you lot but I know that I am emerging ……………….that hole I dug was sure deep
Good points about the emerging aspect, though I can’t say I agree with the nefarious reasons proposed.
Personally Imants, my “plan” is to dig harder.
Why dig? take the elevator out of the hole instead and join the world howling at the sun.
It’s kind of like Bob says.
I was refering to David Alan Harvey; as curator of this beautiful website, I would have loved to hear his opinion on this issue…
Ah, I see the debate stopped there where I left it two months a go… too bad…I think it would have been interesting to know other people’s opinions.