Biography

TerraProject inherently engages on themes related to territorial investigation on environment, society, and people, through a documentary approach characterized by respect for both the subjects, placed within their context and without any rhetoric, and the audience, whom, through the collective’s authorial vision, is guided to an increased awareness which stimulates questions and generates reflections on the present.

The collective’s commitment to chosen themes and the consistent visual approach, which has remained true to itself, have given TerraProject a strong credibility, recognized through numerous publications in renowned national and international publications, various prestigious awards, and exhibitions in which they have participated.

TerraProject collaborates with institutional clients, humanitarian organizations, and companies, not only documenting their activities but also contributing to comprehensive projects, starting from creative concepts to the realization of exhibition and editorial projects. Many significant entities have chosen to rely on the collective’s twenty-year experience, characterized by depth and quality of research, efficiency, and operational autonomy, always answering to the diverse needs of clients and supporting them with synergy and a collaborative mindset.

Awards
Italia Inclusiva grant, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, 2022

Books (selection)
L’illusione. Storie di ordinaria dipendenza, Università di Siena, 2024
Land Inc., Editions Intervalles, 2017
Memorandum, Self-published, 2016
Quattro, Self-published, 2014
Gente del Santerno, Contrasto Editore, 2012

Exhibitions (selection)
L’illusione, storie di ordinaria dipendenza, Magazzini del Sale, Siena, 2023
Dove finisce il lago, Museo Alto Garda, Riva del Garda, 2023
Il senso dei Luoghi, Palazzo Pretorio, Figline e Incisa Valdarno, 2022
Di semi e di pietre, Amatrice and Accumoli, 2021
Un’eredità in movimento, Palazzo Ducale, Genova, 2021
Security landscape, Virtual exhibition, 2020
Terrae Motus. Geografie e storie dell’Italia fragile, Palazzo Acito, Matera, 2019
Walls of power, Rencontres Arles official program, 2019
One year, four stories, Fondazione MAST, Bologna, 2017
Land Inc., European Parliament, Bruxelles, 2017
Extraordinary visions, MAXXI, Rome, 2016
Land Inc., Cortona On The Move Festival, Cortona, 2014
Wu Ming + TerraProject = 4, Complesso delle Murate, Florence 2013

Publications (selection)
Bloomberg BusinessWeek, D di Repubblica, Der Spiegel, Geo France, Internazionale, Io Donna, L’Espresso, La Repubblica, Le Monde Magazine, Marie Claire, Newsweek Japan, Politico Europe, Sette, Corriere della Sera, Smithsonian Magazine, Sportweek, Sunday Times Magazine, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair

Biography
Michele Borzoni was born in 1979 in Florence, Italy. He graduated in 2006 at the International Center of Photography in the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism Program in New York. In 2006 he attended the Eddie Adams Workshop, Barnstorm XIX.
His work has been awarded with the First Prize Yann Geffroy Award 2007 with his work “Srebrenica, struggle for justice”, the New York Times Scholarship for ICP students, and in 2009 he received the Tierney Fellowship. In 2010 he received the First Prize in the People in News Singles category of the World Press Photo Award and in 2012 he was selected by Photo District News as one of the PDN “30 new and emerging photographers to watch”. In 2019 he wins the Gabriele Basilico Prize for his project “Workforce”.

Contacts
M: michele@terraproject.net
T: +39.328.4930815

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Awards
ISPA Award (Italian Sustainability Photo Award), 2023
Gabriele Basilico Award, 2019
Shortlisted Aperture Photo Book Award, 2017
PDN 30 under 30, New emerging photographer to watch, 2012
World Press Photo, 2010
Yann Geffroy Award, 2007

Books
Workforce, L’Artiere, 2019
Mapping the rust, Fondazione Ordine degli Architetti di Milano, 2021

Exhibitions (selection)
Civilization, the way we live now, Saachi Gallery, London, 2023
Mapping the rust, Fondazione Ordine degli architetti, Milan, 2022
Chrétiens d’Orient, 2000 ans d’histoire, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, 2018
Workforce, MAST Foundation, FotoIndustria, Bologna, 2017
Parabole d’Oriente, Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, 2014
Extraordinary visions, MAXXI, Rome, 2016

Public collections
MAXXI, Rome
MUFOCO (Museo Fotografia Contemporanea), Cinisello Balsamo
Linea di Confine, Rubiera

Biography
Simone Donati was born in 1977 in Florence where he lives and works. His photography mainly talks about the Italian territory, with long-term projects where slowness and depth are the basis, together with a documentary approach. His research is characterized by the study of the landscape and its relationship with people. In his practice he experiences images as an operation of awareness and memory, with the photographer’s identity clearly emerging from the modality of his work; in his case, in the proposal of a slowdown, of a quiet and listening approach, not aligned with the speed of todays’ contemporary image making.

Contacts
M: simone@terraproject.net
T: +39.380.7328595

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Books

Varco Appennino, Witty Books, 2021
Hotel Immagine, Self-published, 2015

Exhibitions (selection)
Casentino primo studio, Festival della Fotografia Italiana, Stia, 2024
Non solo gol, Cortona on the Move Festival, Cortona, 2017
Masterworks of industrial photography, MAST, Bologna, 2016
Hotel Immagine, DOCfield, Barcelona, 2015
Circus, Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, 2015
Hotel Immagine, SiFest, Savignano sul Rubicone, 2015
Valley of Angels, Backlight festival, Tampere, 2012

Public collections
ICCD, Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione, Rome

Teaching
Fondazione Studio Marangoni, Florence
Linea School, Lecce
Accademia Italiana, Florence

Biography
Pietro Paolini was born in 1981 in Florence. He graduated at the Fondazione Studio Marangoni in Florence in 2005. From 2004 started his interest in Latin American realities. In 2019 he published his first book “Buscando a Bolivar”, focusing on the new socialist countries, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador.
Side gaze, exploration, questioning, randomness, complexity: recurring terms in the photographer’s vocabulary, very indicative for understanding his visual approach. The result is a photograph strongly imbued with magical realism, in its most contemporary sense, of a suspension and temporal immobility that is intertwined with an analytical restitution of information and details. A photograph capable of finding a point of balance between the external world and interiority, capable of mediating between subjectivity and what lies outside.

Contacts
M: pietro@terraproject.net
T: +39.349.1985030

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Awards
Landskrona Photobook Dummy Award, 2018
Celeste Prize, Streamers, 2016
Graziadei Award, Museo Macro, 2014
PhMuseum Grant, Honorable mention, 2014
M.Pesaresi award for Contemporary Photography, 2013
World Press Photo, Daily life 2nd prize stories, 2012
Fujifilm Choose Film Distinctions Awards, 2011
Canon Italia Young photographers award, 2009

Books
Buscando a Bolivar, Editorial RM / Landskrona Foto / Breadfield Press / Witty Kiwi, 2019

Exhibitions
Buscando a Bolivar, Galleria Nicola Pedana, Caserta, 2019
Balance on the zero, Cuizhenkuan Art Museum, Xi’An, 2017
The two halves, Benaki Museum, Athen, 2016
Collective case 11.227, Museo Macro, Rome, 2015
The two halves, Museo Macro, Rome, 2014
Bolivianas, Centre d’Art Villa Tamaris, Marseilles, 2012
NoNoise, Rencontre de Arles 2013, Arles, 2012
Bolivianas, Fondazione Marangoni Gallery, Florence, 2011
NoNoise, Ego Gallery, Lugano, 2011
Bolivianas, VISA Photo Festival 2010, Perpignan, 2010
Bolivianas, Centro Forma, Milan, 2010

Biography
Rocco Rorandelli was born in 1973, now is based in Rome. His work as a documentary photographer focuses on long-term projects that explore social, geopolitical, and environmental issues. Rocco’s photography delves into the complex relationships between global industries, human behavior, and environmental impact, and involves extensive research that leads him to engage personally in complex and emotionally charged situations. His images aim to raise awareness and stimulate reflection, often pushing the boundaries of traditional documentary photography. This approach is represented in the book Bitter Leaves, a decade-long project conducted across Europe, the USA, and Asia, documenting the impact of the tobacco industry on health, economy, and the environment, for which Rocco received a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

Contacts
M: rocco@terraproject.net
T: +39.335.8149367

BlueSky
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Awards
Fund for Investigative Journalism, 2011
Italian Sustainability Photo Award, 2023

Books
Bitter Leaves, GOST Books, 2019

Campaigns
FAO, WHO, Oxfam, Save the Children, MSF, Amnesty International, WeWorld

Exhibitions (selection)
Megalopoli, River to River Festival, Florence, 2023
Blackadia, Biennal Usimages, Villers-Saint-Paul, Paris, 2023
Bitter Leaves, Riaperture Festival, Ferrara, 2022
Bitter Leaves, PhotoLux Festival, Lucca, 2021
Italian schools, Festival della Fotografia Etica, Lodi, 2019
Balkan Route, Marseille Photo Festival, Marseille, 2018
Balkan Route, European Month of Photography, Neimester, 2017