Winner European Publishers Award for Photography 2012
Nominated Kassel Fotobook Award 2013

ALESSANDRO IMBRIACO

Text by Bill Kouwenhoven

Over the last five years Alessandro Imbriaco has been photographing issues around housing problems in Rome. This has led him to explore the peripheral and hidden spaces of the city.

'The Garden' is one of these places. It is a small swamp next to the Aniene River, under a flyover on the ring road circling the eastern outskirts of Rome. Attempts have been made to protect its flora and fauna by designating the area as a nature reserve, though these efforts have failed and it remains abandoned and with no environmental protection. Yet it has ended up protecting other living creatures: Angela, a six-year-old child, was born here and grew up here with her parents Piero, from Sicily, and Luba, from Russia, in a shack under the flyover. They have found sanctuary in the swamp – a safe shelter, hidden from the rest of the city – a different and invisible existence, unimaginable to all those who drive over the flyover every day.

Born in Salerno, Italy, Alessandro Imbriaco currently lives in Rome. He has already won several awards – the 2008 Canon Award for Young Photographers, World Press Photo 2010 Contemporary Issues 2nd prize stories, Premio Biennale Giovani Monza and Premio Pesaresi 2011. His work was shortlisted in Talent: Foam 2011, PHE Ojo de Pez, Premi Ponchielli, Lumix Award, and Atlante Italiano MAXXI and in 2011 he was selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass.

ISBN: 978-1-907893-27-8
Hardback with double flap jacket
72 pages, 34 colour plates
268mm x 200mm