
Paolo Pellegrin (born March 11, 1964) is a
photojournalist
Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...
.
He was born in Rome, Italy,
into a family of architects. He is a member of the
Magnum Photos
Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in Paris, New York City, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...
agency and has won ten
World Press Photo
World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization holds the annual World Press Photo Contest for press photography. Since 2011, World Press Photo has orga ...
awards.
Biography

Pellegrin studied architecture at
L'Università la Sapienza, in Rome, and after three years he decided to change career directions and left to study photography at Istituto Italiano di Fotografia in Rome, from 1986 to 1987. During these years, he met the Italian photographer
Enzo Ragazzini, who became his mentor.
In 1992 Pellegrin began working on personal projects, on subjects such as the
Romani people
{{Infobox ethnic group
, group = Romani people
, image =
, image_caption =
, flag = Roma flag.svg
, flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress
, po ...
in Italy and
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
and made several trips to the Balkans after Albania opened its borders. Through Christian Caujolle, he met Grazia Neri, who represented him in Italy. Between 1994 and 1995, he started working on a project about children in post-war Bosnia and travelled in Italy, Romania, Mexico, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Kenya for a project on HIV/AIDS. In 1995 he won his first World Press Photo award for his work on AIDS in Uganda.
In 1997 Pellegrin published his first book, ''Bambini'', on his work about children in Bosnia, Uganda and Romania and was awarded the City of Gijòn International Prize of Photojournalism for his work on children in post-war Bosnia. In 1998 he worked on a project for Médecins Sans Frontières, which became a book, ''Cambodia'', and a traveling exhibition. He won a World Press Photo award for his work in Cambodia.
Between 1999 and 2000 Pellegrin travelled frequently between Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, and Serbia during the war, creating an in-depth reportage on the conflict and its aftermath. He won a World Press Photo for his coverage of the conflict in Kosovo.
In 2001 Pellegrin became a
Magnum Photos
Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in Paris, New York City, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...
nominee and won a
World Press Photo
World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization holds the annual World Press Photo Contest for press photography. Since 2011, World Press Photo has orga ...
award for his work on anti-terrorism in Algeria.
During the same year, he won the Leica Medal of Excellence for his work in the Balkans. He began to travel extensively, covering news events mainly in the Middle East and Africa. In 2002 he published the book ''Kosovo 1999-2000: The Flight of Reason'' and won the German
Hansel Mieth Prize for a story in Bosnia. In 2003 he travelled to cover the US-led invasion of Iraq. In 2004 he began travelling to Darfur to cover humanitarian crisis and won the Olivier Rebbot prize by the Overseas Press Club, USA, for his coverage of Darfur. He also won a World Press Photo award for his reportage on
Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...
’s funeral.
With
Thomas Dworzak,
Alex Majoli
Alex Majoli (born 1971) is an Italian photographer known for his documentation of war and conflict. He is a member of Magnum Photos. Majoli's work focuses on the human condition and the theater within our daily lives.
Life and work
Majoli was bor ...
and
Ilkka Uimonen, created ''Off Broadway,'' a traveling multi-media project. He became a Magnum Photos full member in 2005.
In the same year he covered the aftermath of the
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...
and
hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...
and won two World Press Photo awards, one for his work on the funeral of
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005.
In his you ...
, and another for the reportage on the backstage of fashion shows in New York City.
In 2006 Pellegrin travelled to Lebanon to cover the war, where he was injured in Tyre. He won a World Press Photo award for his work in Lebanon
and the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his long-term project on Islam. In 2007 he was awarded the Robert Capa Gold medal by the Overseas Press Club for his work on the war in Lebanon and won the
Leica European Publishers Award for Photography,
[Exhibitions: Paolo Pellegrin: ''As I was dying'']
, Les Rencontres d'Arles. Accessed 8 May 2014. as the result of which his ''As I Was Dying'' was published in seven languages.
In 2013 Pellegrin won his tenth World Press Photo Award.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pellegrin, Paolo
1964 births
Living people
Italian photographers
Magnum photographers
Photography in Lebanon
Photography in Palestine