Paolo
Verzone

Paolo Verzone

biography


Italian photographer, born in 1967, lives and works between Paris (France) and Barcelona (Spain).

As a student of literature and design, he realized his first assignments for the Italian press at the age of 18. If he covers the news in a world in perpetual turmoil, he nevertheless looks at it with the distance of those who prefer the time of observation to the urgency of the moment. He then immerses himself in long-term projects to propose series that question, in substance and in black and white, the current world.

Whether it be a series of portraits of Europeans at the beach (Seeuropeans 1994 – 2002), or of passers-by in the streets of Moscow (Moscow Project 1991 / 2001/ 2011), his first personal projects, carried out in collaboration with his partner Alessandro Albert, question the relationship between a shared social identity and the multiple individual singularities that make it up.

In the 2000s, he moved to Paris, joined the Agence VU’, and switched from black and white to colour, from film to digital, all the while asserting his perfect mastery of light and compositional balance. In his portraits or documentary reportage, he photographs with rigour and eclecticism the way in which the individual composes with his social environment. With “Cadets” (2009-2013), he sets out to meet the officer cadets of the great military academies of Europe, bearers of both a tradition and a future, thus continuing his questioning of European identity.

From 2010-2015, the diversity of the stories he reports – from the Cannes Festival to the COP21, from Catalan demonstrations to the backstage of Matignon – leads him to explore more broadly the relationship of the individual to his own environment, on a social, cultural, historical and geographical level. He is particularly interested in scientists, whose mission is precisely to better understand what binds life to the world.

In 2015, he documented the lives of the climatologists at the Ny Alesund Arctic Research Station (Svalbard, Norway), scientists who came from all over the world to study the open-air laboratory that is the Arctic, and initiated a long-term project on this very special territory to which he regularly travels.

At the same time, he develops photographic stories of different types of researchers around the world and is notably assigned by  National Geographic  to documents archaeological missions (Bible Hunters in 2019; Reimagining Dinosaurs in 2020).

Winner of three World Press Photo awards, Paolo Verzone regularly collaborates with the French and international press (National Geographic, Time, The guardian, Der Spiegel, Mare, Geo, Le Monde, Libération, among others), with companies, foundations and institutions. Regularly exhibited, his photographs have been included in prestigious collections such as those of the Victoria & Albert Museum (London, Great Britain), the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris, France), and the Instituto Nazionale della Grafica (Rome, Italy).

Series


The renewal of the Egyptian archaeology, 2023

Series | Two hundred years after Champollion decoded the first hieroglyphs and one hundred years after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, Egypt is reclaiming its past and placing its heritage in the hands of a whole new generation of local archaeologists, using the best technological tools.

Spitzbergen, 2015-2022

Series | A document on the little known role of scientists who come to observe and try to understand global climate change on the small Norwegian island of Spitzbergen, in the town of Ny Alesund, 1000km from the North Pole.

Portrait of Camargue, 2021

Series| From Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer to Arles, through the Camargue Regional Natural Park, from the Aigues Mortes salt flats to the rice farms, photographer Paolo Verzone spent a year in the Camargue, an astonishing region where water and land are one.

Hollywood in Spain, 2021

Series| Once upon a time, the largest movie open-air set in Europe.

Reimagining Dinosaurs, 2020

Series | Palaeontological science has constantly evolved through excavations, discoveries and the technological tools at its disposal.

Arctic Zero, 2015-2021

Series | Since 2015, Paolo Verzone is going once a year in Ny Alesund to document the little-emphasised role of these extreme scientists at a time when they are becoming crucial to global policy issues.

Bible Hunters, 2018

Series | In 2018, Paolo Verzone, on assignment fo National Geographic, sets out to follow in the footsteps of the Bible hunters.

Paris Fashion Week, 2016

Série | Paolo Verzone was on site for Liberation, to share the backstages and podiums of this event.

Cadets, 2014

Série | Long-interested in the quest for a European identity, particularly in his work “Seeuropeans”, Paolo Verzone takes portraits of the cadets from the most important academies on the continent.

The Moscow Project, 1991-2011

Series | A camera can be a time machine. This has become the backbone of the Moscow portrait series, a collaboration between two photographs spanning two decades.

Seeuropeans, 2002

Série | Undertaken the summer of 1994 throughout Europe, this photographic project of Albert and Verzone aims to create a large collection of portraits of European people on the beach.

Peshawar: The darkness of light, 1997

Série | Midway on the main road from Islamabad to Kabul, the contemporary Muslim city of Peshawar, which means “The Place at the Frontier,” remains in many ways a place on the edge, still buffeted by frenetic movement and ceaseless transition.

The renewal of the Egyptian archaeology, 2023

Series | Two hundred years after Champollion decoded the first hieroglyphs and one hundred years after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, Egypt is reclaiming its past and placing its heritage in the hands of a whole new generation of local archaeologists, using the best technological tools.

Spitzbergen, 2015-2022

Series | A document on the little known role of scientists who come to observe and try to understand global climate change on the small Norwegian island of Spitzbergen, in the town of Ny Alesund, 1000km from the North Pole.

Portrait of Camargue, 2021

Series| From Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer to Arles, through the Camargue Regional Natural Park, from the Aigues Mortes salt flats to the rice farms, photographer Paolo Verzone spent a year in the Camargue, an astonishing region where water and land are one.

Hollywood in Spain, 2021

Series| Once upon a time, the largest movie open-air set in Europe.

Reimagining Dinosaurs, 2020

Series | Palaeontological science has constantly evolved through excavations, discoveries and the technological tools at its disposal.

Arctic Zero, 2015-2021

Series | Since 2015, Paolo Verzone is going once a year in Ny Alesund to document the little-emphasised role of these extreme scientists at a time when they are becoming crucial to global policy issues.

Bible Hunters, 2018

Series | In 2018, Paolo Verzone, on assignment fo National Geographic, sets out to follow in the footsteps of the Bible hunters.

Paris Fashion Week, 2016

Série | Paolo Verzone was on site for Liberation, to share the backstages and podiums of this event.

Cadets, 2014

Série | Long-interested in the quest for a European identity, particularly in his work “Seeuropeans”, Paolo Verzone takes portraits of the cadets from the most important academies on the continent.

The Moscow Project, 1991-2011

Series | A camera can be a time machine. This has become the backbone of the Moscow portrait series, a collaboration between two photographs spanning two decades.

Seeuropeans, 2002

Série | Undertaken the summer of 1994 throughout Europe, this photographic project of Albert and Verzone aims to create a large collection of portraits of European people on the beach.

Peshawar: The darkness of light, 1997

Série | Midway on the main road from Islamabad to Kabul, the contemporary Muslim city of Peshawar, which means “The Place at the Frontier,” remains in many ways a place on the edge, still buffeted by frenetic movement and ceaseless transition.

The renewal of the Egyptian archaeology, 2023

Series | Two hundred years after Champollion decoded the first hieroglyphs and one hundred years after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, Egypt is reclaiming its past and placing its heritage in the hands of a whole new generation of local archaeologists, using the best technological tools.

Spitzbergen, 2015-2022

Series | A document on the little known role of scientists who come to observe and try to understand global climate change on the small Norwegian island of Spitzbergen, in the town of Ny Alesund, 1000km from the North Pole.

Portrait of Camargue, 2021

Series| From Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer to Arles, through the Camargue Regional Natural Park, from the Aigues Mortes salt flats to the rice farms, photographer Paolo Verzone spent a year in the Camargue, an astonishing region where water and land are one.

Hollywood in Spain, 2021

Series| Once upon a time, the largest movie open-air set in Europe.

Reimagining Dinosaurs, 2020

Series | Palaeontological science has constantly evolved through excavations, discoveries and the technological tools at its disposal.

Arctic Zero, 2015-2021

Series | Since 2015, Paolo Verzone is going once a year in Ny Alesund to document the little-emphasised role of these extreme scientists at a time when they are becoming crucial to global policy issues.

Bible Hunters, 2018

Series | In 2018, Paolo Verzone, on assignment fo National Geographic, sets out to follow in the footsteps of the Bible hunters.

Paris Fashion Week, 2016

Série | Paolo Verzone was on site for Liberation, to share the backstages and podiums of this event.

Cadets, 2014

Série | Long-interested in the quest for a European identity, particularly in his work “Seeuropeans”, Paolo Verzone takes portraits of the cadets from the most important academies on the continent.

The Moscow Project, 1991-2011

Series | A camera can be a time machine. This has become the backbone of the Moscow portrait series, a collaboration between two photographs spanning two decades.

Seeuropeans, 2002

Série | Undertaken the summer of 1994 throughout Europe, this photographic project of Albert and Verzone aims to create a large collection of portraits of European people on the beach.

Peshawar: The darkness of light, 1997

Série | Midway on the main road from Islamabad to Kabul, the contemporary Muslim city of Peshawar, which means “The Place at the Frontier,” remains in many ways a place on the edge, still buffeted by frenetic movement and ceaseless transition.

Exhibitions


Arctic Zero

Cité de l’Image, Clervaux (LUXEMBURG)

From September 25, 2020 to September 24, 2021

Arctic Zero

Festival Cortona On The Move, Cortona (ITALY)

Du 11 juillet au 29 septembre 2019

Cadets

Hôtel National des Invalides, Paris (FRANCE)

Du 1er décembre 2014 au 22 janvier 2015

books


Cadets 

Éditions de La Martinière - 2014

Seeuropeans

Images Plurielles Editions - 2012

Cadets 

Éditions de La Martinière - 2014

Seeuropeans

Images Plurielles Editions - 2012

Cadets 

Éditions de La Martinière - 2014

Seeuropeans

Images Plurielles Editions - 2012

Awards


Pictures of the Year

1st Prize, « Science and Natural History Picture Story » categorie for his series « Today’s custodians of Egypt’s cultural heritage »

2023

World Press Photo

3rd Prize, « Portrait Stories » categorie for his series « Cadets »

2015

Sony World Photography Award

For his series « Red Hat Society »

2011

PGB Photo Award

2nd Prize, Sport categorie for his series « Chessboxing »

2010

World Press Photo

3rd Prize, « Sport Stories » categorie for his series « »

2009

Prix Canon Giovani photography

For his series « Peshawar: The darkness of light »

2001

World Press Photo

3rd Prix, « Portrait Single » categorie for Albert & Verzone’s series « »

2001

Prix Fondation Studio Marangoni

For Albert & Verzone’s series « »

2000

Prix Kodak du Panorama Européen

For Albert & Verzone’s series “Moscow Project 1991”

1992