ENTRY DESCRIPTION
A government soldier drinks a date-based alcohol at 7AM. Women and girls represent the most vulnerable population in South Sudan’s civil war. Government and rebel soldiers use rape as a tactic, but gender-based violence has also heightened off the battlefield. The war’s hardships have increased risky transactional sex. © Gianluca Panella

AUTHOR
Biography

Gianluca Panella is an independent italian photojournalist focused on social reportage, current affairs, and portraits. He has traveled to the Balkans, Egypt, Haiti, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, the United States, Europe. His photography has been featured in a variety of Italian and international publications.

After a background in Political Science, he began as a self-taught photographer. He than studied photojournalism with Leonardo Brogioni in Milan before starting his career with local daily newspapers. In this same period, he met Romano Cagnoni who instilled in him the ideal of photojournalism as a deep responsibility. From 2007 to 2011, Panella collaborated with the MassimoSestiniNewsAgency, producing work for the mainstream Italian press.

Panella ended his collaboration with Sestini’s agency in order to dedicate himself to personal projects, among which “Tanit Project,” a documentary work on the Mediterranean Sea that retraces the routes of ancient Phoenicians by sail.

His work “Gaza BlackOut” is awarded World Press Photo 2014 third prize General News Stories. Among his works, “First Day” and “Parkour Strip,” won honorable mentions at the 2013 International Photography Awards, “Gjakmarrje” earned him two honorable mentions at the 2012 International Photo Awards, and “The Concordia Show” was awarded an honorable mention at the 2012 International Photo Awards and the Foto8 Summershow. He was a finalist for the Leica Award 2013 and the Leica Talent 2012.
His exhibitions have included “Caliber 3” at the 2013 Festival of Ethical Photography and The “Concordia Show” at the Foto8 Summershow and “A World Elsewhere” with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

He is a member of Italy’s National Order of Journalists since 2004.

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