Stories of Humanity

Photographers for Doctors Without Borders

Being a public witness is part of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) DNA, a medical-humanitarian organization that provides relief to populations affected by conflicts, epidemics, natural disasters or excluded from healthcare. This is why MSF has always been attentive to photography as an expressive means to tell the reality in which it operates, also with the aim of denouncing the injustices it witnesses. Last year, on the occasion of its 50th birthday, MSF decided to launch, together with Cortona On The Move, the open call for young photographers “Stories of Humanity. Photographers for Doctors Without Borders”aimed at amateur and professional photographers residing in Italy between the ages of 18 and 30 in order to promote collective reflection on solidarity, humanity, help and attention to those most in need.
There were 221 participants, three winners selected and one special mention awarded by the jury. The three winners Yarin Trotta del Vecchio, Filippo Taddei and Giuliano Lo Re were awarded at the 2021 COTM Awards Night edition and in the following months they carried out reportage works with MSF which is previewed at the 2022 COTM new edition.

Yarin Trotta del Vecchio
Shifting Sands – The oblivion of migrants from Sahara

Yarin Trotta was in Niger, a country that has recently moved from a land of transit to the last frontier before the Mediterranean for migrants attempting to arrive in Europe. In Agadez, Yarin documented the living conditions of the many people stranded in a situation of lack of rights and economic and food precariousness and where MSF mainly provides psychological support and essential kits.

Giuliano Lo Re
RIP: Rest in Pieces

In the heart of the Mediterranean, 1300 km away from each other, Lampedusa and Lesbos share the same destiny: to be the terminus of the migratory route that sees every year tens of thousands of people embarking on a dramatic journey in search of the promised land. Through his images, Giuliano Lo Re recounts the oblivion, fear, precariousness and loneliness faced by people forced to live indefinitely on these islands, where MSF provides medical care and psychological support.

Filippo Taddei
There are crocodiles in the sea

Dal 2014 II Mediterraneo Centrale e la rotta migratoria più letale al mondo. Solo nel 2021 sono stati registrati 2.048 migranti scomparsi (IOM). In assenza di presenza governativa, gli unici attori attivi nelle Search&Rescue Areas sono le ONG con le loro barche, tra cui la Geo Barents di MSF. I soggetti del racconto di Filippo Taddei sono i salvatori ed i salvati, braccia che si si stringono con tutta la loro forza per colmare un confine invisibile, fatto di onde.