ISPA WINNERS 2020
SINGLE PHOTO
FINALIST
Antonella Monzoni
Gea is Giovanni and Giorgia’s daughter, beekeepers who live in Formigine, in the province of Modena. They could not have chosen a more suitable name for their daughter. Gea was raised on royal jelly and is very fond of pollen: she eats it like there’s no tomorrow. Giovanni and Giorgia practice organic and "nomadic" beekeeping: they move bees during the night from the Prealps to the Mediterranean scrub towards Senigallia and in the Apennines to follow the blooms of acacia, chestnut, lime, dandelion, cherry tree, alfalfa. Bees are amazing, ingenious and unpredictable; they represent the perfect matriarchal society. In a few days of life, each bee is a cell of a single superorganism (only the Queen lives up to five years). They know exactly what their job is, and they modify their activities every day to keep the hive structure alive. For Giovanni and Giorgia, being beekeepers means connecting all the available knowledge, observing changes in climate and plants, paying attention to all the elements that surround us to allow their bee families to survive the winter and thrive during the blooming season. Our social wellbeing also depends on the bees’ wellbeing.
Biography
Antonella Monzoni lives in Modena. She has a photojournalistic and at the same time intimist approach and her photography is aimed at preserving cultural memory. That is especially true in Madame, which won the 2007 Giacomelli Award and was selected for the 2008 Descubrimientos PhotoEspaña Award, Somewhere in Russia (2007 Chatwin Award) and Silent Beauty (Special Mention at the 2008 International Photography Awards). In 2009 with her portfolio Ferita Armena, she received a Special Mention at the Amnesty International Human Rights Festival, was shortlisted as a finalist at the Ponchielli Award and was selected for the Visa pour l’Image international photojournalism festival in Perpignan. In 2009 she also won the Best Photographer Award at the Saint Petersburg Photo Vernissage and in 2010 she was named Author of the Year by the FIAF (Italian Federation of Photographic Associations). She has been a member of the Synap(see) Collective since 2011. In 2012 she won first prize at the VIPA (Vienna International Photo Awards). In 2015 she won the International Scanno dei Fotografi Prize. In 2016 her book Ferita Armena won the Bastianelli Award as the best photography book. In 2018 she became a member of Donne Fotografe, Italian Women’s Association and in the same year FIAF awarded her Honour of Master of Italian Photography MFI. She has taken part in several group and solo exhibitions in Italy and abroad.
FINALISTS
