Davide
Monteleone

Davide Monteleone

biography

Italian photographer born in 1974, member of VU’ Agency since 2017, based in Zürich (Switzerland)

After beginning engineering studies, David Monteleone quickly turned to journalism and photography. Holding a Master research in Art and Politics from the Goldsmiths University in London, he first worked as an agency correspondent in Moscow from 2001 to 2003.

Since 2003, Davide Monteleone’s documentary photographic writing has enabled him to carry out, between Italy and Russia, numerous editorial assignments and regular collaborations with prestigious international press titles (Time Magazine, New Yorker, National Geographic, etc.).

He also develops long term personal projects focused on social issues and conflictual relationship between Power and individuals. Particularly committed to documenting the survivals and new aspirations of the post-Soviet world, he published his first book « Dusha, Russian Soul » in 2007, followed by « La Liena Inesistente » in 2009, « Red Thistle » in 2012, « Spasibo » in 2013 , « The April Theses » in 2017 and « In The Russian East » in 2019

In 2014, he goes beyond the borders of the post-Soviet territories and initiates a work – still in progress – about geopolitical, socio-economic, and environmental impact of the “New Silk Roads” (“Yi Dai Yi Lu”) and thus about Chinese expansion on several continents.

Exhibited in many countries, his work has received prestigious awards, among which several World Press Photo awards (2007, 2009, 2011), the Aftermath Project award (2010), the European Publishers Award for Photography (2011), the European Photo Exhibition Award (2012), the Carmignac Prize for photojournalism (2013), the Asia Society Fellowship (2016) or the National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship (2019-2020).

Series

Sinomocene, 2014-2021

Series | As the world’s leading economic power, the People’s Republic of China, through its President Xi Jinping, launches in 2013 the Yi Dai Yi Lu Initiative (“Belt and Road Initiative”), a gigantic investment program in road, rail and maritime infrastructure to be built in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Countermapping, 2019

Throughout November and December of 2018, Davide Monteleone have been travelling within Mexico, the United States, and Germany as part of a new project which attempts to combine multidisciplinary practices to counter-map the purported “Global Migration Crisis”, which is too frequently described as “a permanent challenge to the 21st-century states and world order” (Ignatieff et al., 2016).

North Korea, From Pyongyang to Rason, 2019

Several times a month, a train goes through North Korea from Pyongyang, the capital, to the Sinai-Russian border, in the coastal city of Rason.

The Sinai-Russian border, an Atypical Relationship, 2018

China and Russia, respectively the world's most populous country and the world's largest country, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, share a common 4 3000-kilometer border.

Meet the Puteens, 2018

In the month leading up the 2018 presidential election in Russia Davide Monteleone and Noah Sneider (Moscow’s Bureu Chief for The Economist) teamed up to interview dozens of 18-year-olds across Russia.

The April Theses, 2017

On the 7th of April 1917th, the Pravda publishes « The April Theses » by Lenin, who after 10 years exiled, undertakes his return to his homeland. With the German authorities’ help, who were at war against Russia, the revolutionary Bolshevik’s Party leader crossed by train Germany, Sweden and Finland to Saint-Petersburg.

In the Russian East, 2016

« In the Russian East » is an echo to the work of Richard Avedon, “In the American West” (1985), Considered as a master-piece of the photography history, this work gathers a series of “ordinary people” from the West, (West-ranchers, barmaids, gamblers, tramps, to do make their portraits.

Tabula Rogeriana, 2016

This photographic series finds its genesis in the book of Pedrag Matveievich, “La Méditerrannée”, and the tabular work of the scientist and cartographer, Muhammad Al-Idrisi; the “Tabula Rogeriana”.

Spasibo, 2013

"Chechnya has won, Russia has won". Perhaps the losers are the many Chechens who chose to go into exile as a matter of honor. Those who stayed have returned to a normal life and can satisfy their basic needs after several decades of hardship.

A Modern Odyssey, 2012

“A Modern Odyssey” is a project made during a journey on the cargo ship Nordic Odyssey, transporting 70,000 tons of iron ore from the Russian port city Murmansk.

Red Thistle, 2011

The mountain range stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea traces the restless, misunderstood mosaic of the Northern Caucasus, which features in the media predominantly when the endless sporadic wars turn into massacres or genocides.

Dusha, Russian Soul, 2007

Dusha is the title of this endless journey through Russia. Winston Churchill defined Russia as “a riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma”.

Sinomocene, 2014-2021

Series | As the world’s leading economic power, the People’s Republic of China, through its President Xi Jinping, launches in 2013 the Yi Dai Yi Lu Initiative (“Belt and Road Initiative”), a gigantic investment program in road, rail and maritime infrastructure to be built in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Countermapping, 2019

Throughout November and December of 2018, Davide Monteleone have been travelling within Mexico, the United States, and Germany as part of a new project which attempts to combine multidisciplinary practices to counter-map the purported “Global Migration Crisis”, which is too frequently described as “a permanent challenge to the 21st-century states and world order” (Ignatieff et al., 2016).

North Korea, From Pyongyang to Rason, 2019

Several times a month, a train goes through North Korea from Pyongyang, the capital, to the Sinai-Russian border, in the coastal city of Rason.

The Sinai-Russian border, an Atypical Relationship, 2018

China and Russia, respectively the world's most populous country and the world's largest country, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, share a common 4 3000-kilometer border.

Meet the Puteens, 2018

In the month leading up the 2018 presidential election in Russia Davide Monteleone and Noah Sneider (Moscow’s Bureu Chief for The Economist) teamed up to interview dozens of 18-year-olds across Russia.

The April Theses, 2017

On the 7th of April 1917th, the Pravda publishes « The April Theses » by Lenin, who after 10 years exiled, undertakes his return to his homeland. With the German authorities’ help, who were at war against Russia, the revolutionary Bolshevik’s Party leader crossed by train Germany, Sweden and Finland to Saint-Petersburg.

In the Russian East, 2016

« In the Russian East » is an echo to the work of Richard Avedon, “In the American West” (1985), Considered as a master-piece of the photography history, this work gathers a series of “ordinary people” from the West, (West-ranchers, barmaids, gamblers, tramps, to do make their portraits.

Tabula Rogeriana, 2016

This photographic series finds its genesis in the book of Pedrag Matveievich, “La Méditerrannée”, and the tabular work of the scientist and cartographer, Muhammad Al-Idrisi; the “Tabula Rogeriana”.

Spasibo, 2013

"Chechnya has won, Russia has won". Perhaps the losers are the many Chechens who chose to go into exile as a matter of honor. Those who stayed have returned to a normal life and can satisfy their basic needs after several decades of hardship.

A Modern Odyssey, 2012

“A Modern Odyssey” is a project made during a journey on the cargo ship Nordic Odyssey, transporting 70,000 tons of iron ore from the Russian port city Murmansk.

Red Thistle, 2011

The mountain range stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea traces the restless, misunderstood mosaic of the Northern Caucasus, which features in the media predominantly when the endless sporadic wars turn into massacres or genocides.

Dusha, Russian Soul, 2007

Dusha is the title of this endless journey through Russia. Winston Churchill defined Russia as “a riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma”.

Sinomocene, 2014-2021

Series | As the world’s leading economic power, the People’s Republic of China, through its President Xi Jinping, launches in 2013 the Yi Dai Yi Lu Initiative (“Belt and Road Initiative”), a gigantic investment program in road, rail and maritime infrastructure to be built in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Countermapping, 2019

Throughout November and December of 2018, Davide Monteleone have been travelling within Mexico, the United States, and Germany as part of a new project which attempts to combine multidisciplinary practices to counter-map the purported “Global Migration Crisis”, which is too frequently described as “a permanent challenge to the 21st-century states and world order” (Ignatieff et al., 2016).

North Korea, From Pyongyang to Rason, 2019

Several times a month, a train goes through North Korea from Pyongyang, the capital, to the Sinai-Russian border, in the coastal city of Rason.

The Sinai-Russian border, an Atypical Relationship, 2018

China and Russia, respectively the world's most populous country and the world's largest country, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, share a common 4 3000-kilometer border.

Meet the Puteens, 2018

In the month leading up the 2018 presidential election in Russia Davide Monteleone and Noah Sneider (Moscow’s Bureu Chief for The Economist) teamed up to interview dozens of 18-year-olds across Russia.

The April Theses, 2017

On the 7th of April 1917th, the Pravda publishes « The April Theses » by Lenin, who after 10 years exiled, undertakes his return to his homeland. With the German authorities’ help, who were at war against Russia, the revolutionary Bolshevik’s Party leader crossed by train Germany, Sweden and Finland to Saint-Petersburg.

In the Russian East, 2016

« In the Russian East » is an echo to the work of Richard Avedon, “In the American West” (1985), Considered as a master-piece of the photography history, this work gathers a series of “ordinary people” from the West, (West-ranchers, barmaids, gamblers, tramps, to do make their portraits.

Tabula Rogeriana, 2016

This photographic series finds its genesis in the book of Pedrag Matveievich, “La Méditerrannée”, and the tabular work of the scientist and cartographer, Muhammad Al-Idrisi; the “Tabula Rogeriana”.

Spasibo, 2013

"Chechnya has won, Russia has won". Perhaps the losers are the many Chechens who chose to go into exile as a matter of honor. Those who stayed have returned to a normal life and can satisfy their basic needs after several decades of hardship.

A Modern Odyssey, 2012

“A Modern Odyssey” is a project made during a journey on the cargo ship Nordic Odyssey, transporting 70,000 tons of iron ore from the Russian port city Murmansk.

Red Thistle, 2011

The mountain range stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea traces the restless, misunderstood mosaic of the Northern Caucasus, which features in the media predominantly when the endless sporadic wars turn into massacres or genocides.

Dusha, Russian Soul, 2007

Dusha is the title of this endless journey through Russia. Winston Churchill defined Russia as “a riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma”.

Interviews

Fotografi : Davide Monteleone
Museum TV
—
2018

The collapse of the Soviet regime, the uncontrolled explosion of capitalism, the dilation of society in the insoluble contrast between the newly rich and poverty: Davide Monteleone becomes an eyewitness of the new Russia.

Davide Monteleone – Anima Russia
Biblioteca Fotografica
—
2016

Encounter with the photographer Davide Monteleone on his work around Russian society.

Exhibitions

Sinomocene
—
3rd Cargo Festival: Les Photographiques de Saint Nazaire
—
From June 29 to October 1, 2023

More information

Les Thèses d’avril
—
PHOTOLUX, Lucca (ITALY)
—
From November 16 to December 8, 2019

More information

books

Sinomocene

Artphilein Editions SA - 2022

In the Russian East

Spaziergang - 2017

The April Theses

Edizioni Postcart - 2017

Spasibo

Kehrer Verlag - 2013

Red Thistle

Actes Sud - 2012

Dusha, Russian Soul

Postcart Edizioni - 2007

Sinomocene

Artphilein Editions SA - 2022

In the Russian East

Spaziergang - 2017

The April Theses

Edizioni Postcart - 2017

Spasibo

Kehrer Verlag - 2013

Red Thistle

Actes Sud - 2012

Dusha, Russian Soul

Postcart Edizioni - 2007

Sinomocene

Artphilein Editions SA - 2022

In the Russian East

Spaziergang - 2017

The April Theses

Edizioni Postcart - 2017

Spasibo

Kehrer Verlag - 2013

Red Thistle

Actes Sud - 2012

Dusha, Russian Soul

Postcart Edizioni - 2007

awards

Prix Lauréat Leica Oskar Barnack 2024

For his work on the “Criticals Minerals – Geography of Energy”.

2024

National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship

For his work on the “New Silk Road in China”.

United-States, 2019

Winner of the First Prize Codice MIA

His work, “In the Russian East”, was recognized for his distinguished representation of complex social and political scenes with a very particular and focused vision.

Milan, Italy, 2017

Fellowship Asia Society, ChinaFile

For his work “Life Along the Chinese-Russian Border”

United-States, 2016

PDN Best Book Award

For his work “Spasibo”.

United-States, 2014

Winner of the Foundation Carmignac Photojournalism Award 

For his work “Spasibo”.

2013

2nd Prize of the POY Multimedia

For his work “Nordic Odyssey : a month at sea”

2013

3rd Prize of the Lead Award

For his work “Red Thistle”.

2012

Epea Grant (European Photo Exhibition Award).

For his work “Harragas”.

2012

2nd Prize, category Art and Entertainments, single, of the World Press Photo

For his photograph “Milan Fashion Week”

2011

Winner of the “Follow your convictions grant” Maurice Lacroix, World Press Photo Foundation

For his work “Reverse Sea”.

2011

Winner of the EPAP (European Publisher Award for Photography)

For his work “Red Thistle”.

2011

Winner of the Emerging Photographer Grant

For his work “Northern Caucasus”

2010

Winner of the Aftermath Project Award

For his work “Red Thistle”.

2010

1st Prize, category General News Stories, of the World Press Photo

For his work “Abkhazia”

2009

Foam Talent Award

For his work “Northern Caucasus”

2009

2nd Prize Best Book of the IPA Award

For his work “Dusha, Russian Soul”

2008

1st Prize General News of the IPA Award

For his work “Pakistan turning point”

2008

1st Prize, category Spot News Stories, of the World Press Photo

For his work “Israeli bombing in Lebanon”

2007

Winner of the TAF Prize, Lucca Digital Photo Fest

For his work “Dusha, Russian Soul”

2007