Focus on Francesco Zizola
Despatches from the real world

© Francesco Zizola / noor
Khodjely City, Uzbekistan, Aral Sea. October 1997.
Republican Recover School for children with serious malformations

By Emiliano Pretto

Francesco Zizola is widely considered one of the greatest contemporary photographers, ranking with Sebastiao Salgado and James Nachtwey. Born in Rome in 1962, Zizola has been covering international news for major Italian and international magazines since 1986. Recognition for his work includes seven World Press Photo awards, including World Press Photo of the Year in 1996 for his photograph documenting the tragedy of land mines in Angola and three Pictures of the Year Awards from the National Press Association (1997, 1998, 2003) and, in 2004, a Special Recognition Award from the Alexia Foundation for World Peace.

Our meeting took place in Zizola’s studio at his recently opened “10b Photography Gallery” in via San Lorenzo da Brindisi 10b in the heart of Rome’s Garbatella quarter.
The images from his photographs are at once beautiful and haunting, frequently dramatic like those from his most recent reportage in famine-stricken areas of Ethiopia or those from his prizewinning odyssey through war-torn Angola. Zizola recounts some of his story, of his links with Rome and above all what drives him to capture the world around us through the lense of his cameras.

– Today you’re an internationally acclaimed photographer, but what sparked your passion for taking pictures?
– I became interested in photography when I was still a small kid. At middle school I started attending practical lessons in the afternoons. Right away I had the sense that photography could be much more than a simple hobby, but a way of getting beneath the surface of things. It was this discovery that made me want to learn more.

– Since then you’ve come a long way. But what drove you to choose photography as your way of documenting the world around you? What made you a photographer?
– I believe taking pictures is a way of communicating, of discovering the world, other people – and myself. Essentially it’s a means of awareness and knowledge.

– Can photography also be a means of making political or ethical statements?
– Historically, photography has found a vast array of uses. Here in the West it has become so pervasive that the idea of a society without images is inconceivable. Photography is used by scientists as a means of documentary proof. It’s used to provide legal evidence. In the past it has been used as a tool for propaganda, to support consumerism or political ideologies. And, of course, it still is. So clearly the answer to your question is “yes”. But a more complex, multi-layered and less superficial vision is necessary. For example, many photojournalists would accept they have an ethical imperative to investigate the reality they see through the lense of their camera. That is how I work. To do this, however, I believe you must act according to the principles of ethical journalism: interpretation, but not mystification.

– Your comments help to explain why your work as a photojournalist is so different from that of many of your colleagues. Do you think that in today’s world a photographer can really be a watchdog for democracy?
– With the advent of photography there developed for the first time the idea that it was possible to capture reality. That’s why the relationship between politics and photography has always been ambiguous, even conflictual. The idea that photography can affirm reality does not always sit well with political power. Power frequently seeks to use it to mystify, to distort. One simple example: just think how the US government banned photographers from taking pictures of the coffins of American servicemen and women killed in Iraq or sought to block publication of pictures showing Iraqi or Afghan civilians killed and wounded in US military operations.

– One last question. Why did you decide to be based in Rome rather than in London or New York where you would certainly have found a better, more receptive working environment?
– Now there are fewer practical difficulties to working here. Thanks to the internet and new technology I can send and receive photos anywhere. Conferencing means we can hold staff meetings of my agency without problems. And anyway I was born in Rome, it’s a very special place for me. It’s a unique city, with an incomparable history and culture. In many ways it has contributed to making me the person I am. That’s why I wanted to stay here and to open the 10b Photography Gallery: to offer the city a space, a venue that celebrates the cultural possibilities of photography. I hope it’s a step that helps Rome move towards other European capitals where photography is a living and valued cultural presence. This has not always been the case: just think of the so-called Rome International Photography Festival, which is international only in name …
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Francesco Zizola has exhibited across Europe and has published four books: “Iraq” (2007) shows images of war, soldiers, torture, refugees and the collateral damage of Saddam’s regimes. “Né Quelque Part / Born Somewhere” (2004) portrays the lives of children in 27 countries. “Etats d’enfances” was published by Photo Poche (France) and Contrasto (Italy) in 1999. “Ruas” (1994), published by Group Abele editions won the MIFAV prize for best photographic book by the School of Photographic Images and Visual Arts of the University of Rome.

10b Photography Gallery
via San Lorenzo da Brindisi 10b
Rome
www.10bphotography.com