TITLE: "Gypsies Are People 01"

It is worth considering that the so-called Gypsies are people like us, Gypsy women love their children like us, and their young people make life projects like ours. We often fear their faces and what is said about them. They are often at the center of racial debates, live in conditions of extreme marginalization, in a system that for them is incapable of any form of integration. A high percentage of their children do not go to school, making any change for their future impossible. Often the system that does not accept them, uses them for its shady deals, as happened in the past for "Mafia Capitale". This photo that was taken in Rome during the closure of the Casilino 700 Gypsies camp( Casilino 700 was a big area in the suburb of Rome. It was with Casilino 900 one of the biggest Gypsies camp in Europe, and the people who lived there, lived in the same conditions in which the Italian people in the countryside were living 60 years ago: no water, no public electricity, no sewers) is part of a long-term project on the Rom and Sinta ethnicity developed from 1999 to 2018.

AUTHOR: Pietro Di Giambattista (Italy)

HOME
STORIES
BOOKS
BIO
CONTACT
P H O T O G R A P H E R
Pietro Di Giambattista born in Pannarano (BN) in 1956 and he lives and works in Rome. After having studied technical studies he started a full-time classical guitar course and in 1991 he became a performer. He decided to give up the study of the guitar and dedicated himself to photography, devoting his attention mainly to landscapes and portraits. In 1992 he won the 1st prize in a national photography competition at Ercolano (Napoli). In 1997 he enrolled at a Photography Workshop in Toscana held by the famous English landscape photographer Eddie Ephraums. From that time onwards he started taking part into workshops that will determine his professional growth. He also had the chance to meet Paolo Pellegrin and Antonin Kratochvil. In the year 2000 he met Francesco Zizola in Massa Marittima at the Toscana Fotofestival and at the Polaroid workshop he met Maurizio Galimberti. He attended a workshop with Michael Ackerman and later with Yury Kozyrev in Rome. He also enrolled in some courses at the Permanent School of Photography "Graffiti" in Rome, directed by Gianni Pinnizzotto and also attended the start-up to the profession of photojournalism with Rolando Fava . In 2002 he sent a selection of portraits that are part of his work "Nomads" at the World Press Photo where he won the third prize in the category of Portraits. In 2002 he won the 7th International photograph exhibition of Photography in Solighetto (Treviso) , an award that allowed him to publish his first book "Nomads". Pietro di Giambattista has exhibited in several Italian cities and in Barcelona. He has received several honorable mentions in several competitions, was a finalist in the 2016 Photographers Forum Magazine's, first place in the 2016 ND AWARDS in the category Editorial - Daily Life.