• Francesco Anselmi

Stories

Ukrainian Refugees in Medyka


The Polish border town of Medyka welcomes refugees from Ukraine.  The town sits just over the Ukraine border in Poland, 85 kilometres west of Lviv, where an estimated 2 million people are waiting fearfully before deciding whether to escape. The town is the largest crossing point for refugees fleeing their shattered lives in Ukraine. Most of them need a place to pause, regroup and recover before moving on to other cities in Poland or beyond.

Greek Chronicles


Since 2010, the Hellenic peninsula has been in an austerity regime, imposed by the European Union in agreement with the International Monetary Fund, as a condition for receiving the loans necessary to pay the expenses of the state, now unable to susta in itself independently. Policies, although Greek debt has decreased, have had a devastating effect on many levels, irreversibly changing the country's social and territorial development prospects. In recent years, Greece has also been the subject of an extraordinary exodus of migrants and refugees coming mainly from Syria and from North African countries upset by the various Arab springs.The dramatic socio-economic condition of Greece, associated with the need to relate to phenomena of world, have meant that in the Hellenic peninsula an unprecedented historical situation has been created, capable of showing all the gaps and contradictions brought about by the current concept of the European Union.

Borderlands


In the history of the human species one of the key factors in determining the evolution of peoples has been the presence of geographical barriers between populations. Mountains, oceans and deserts limited the sharing of knowledge and technology, slowing the progress of certain areas of the world over others. That same history saw men seeking solutions to overcome those natural barriers and at the same time building artificial ones: walls to defend ourselves from whom we identify as enemy, from whom might weaken us and undermine our identity. After thousands of years, these two thrusts -of research for progress and conservation- they are unchanged. Under a wall at the center of political debate, who they are, what they live and what they choose the true protagonists of a no men's land.

Portfolio

Born 1984 in Milan, Francesco lives between Italy and the United States.
He graduated at The International Center of Photography receiving the New York Times Foundation Scholarship in 2010.
His production mainly focuses on social issues and ongoing changes involving the western society, from Europe to the United States of America. In 2012 he started a long-term documentation about the human consequences of the Greek economic crisis.
In 2017 he began an ongoing work about the US/Mexico border, investigating the interaction between identity related issues and
immigration related issues in border areas.
Francesco’s work have been published, exposed and awarded internationally.

Turin, Italy

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Awards

2019. Visa D’Or Pour la Presse Quotidienne recipient
2019. Oskar Barnack Award finalist
2016. Visura Grant for Outstanding Personal Project recipient
2014. Oskar Barnack Award finalist
2013. Chris Hondros Fellowship Fund recipient
2013. Eddie Adams Workshop participant

Exhibitions & Screenings

2019. Borderlands, Neue Schule Fur Fotografie. Berlin, Germany
2019. Borderlands, Le Rencontre De La Photographie. Arles, France
2019. Borderlands, Visa Pour L’Image. Perpignan, France
2018. Borderlands, Lumix Festival For Young Photojournalism. Hannover, Germany
2015. Greek Chronicles, Festival Della Fotografia Etica. Lodi, Italy
2014. Post Frontier, Venice Biennale Of Architecture. Venice, Italy
2014. Greek Chronicles, Le Rencontre De La Photographie. Arles, France
2014. Greek Chronicles, Lumix Festival For Young Photojournalism. Hannover, Germany
2013. Greek Chronicles, Visa Pour L’image. Perpignan, France
2011. Strike Anywhere, International Center Of Photography. New York City, USA