Migrant Workers by alessandro penso

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abandoned house, where the workers are established during the harvest

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Youssef Bande.he came from Burkina Faso, 3 years ago

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tomato harvest in Basilicata, Italy

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Worker takes water supplies

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Mandarin Harvest in Calabria,Italy

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typical landscape of Basilicata

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workers wait until the end of the rain to return to work

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during the rain the tomato harvest is stopped

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morning prayer during Ramadan

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tomato harvest in Basilicata, Italy

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tomato harvest in Puglia, Italy

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seasonal workers wash themselves after a day's work

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Some workers carry supplies of water

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Workers can check the phone just a few minutes a day because they have no homes elletricità

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Injured foot

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slaughter of a sheep

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workers make fire for cooking

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slaughter of a sheep

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Hair cut

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Badu and a friend arrive in Calabria,Italy

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moment of rest

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kitchen

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temporary home in Calabria

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workers outside the abandoned house

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employee during lunch

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moment of rest

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brother of Bande recently arrived in Italy for finding a job

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workers in house, Afragola Naples

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Seasonal workers, pray in the field

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"Corporal" takes water to sell to the workers.Corporal is usually a stranger who finds the work of his compatriots in exchange for money

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Oji portrait of his house in Calabria

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seasonal worker burns waste

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road leading to the fields

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Sar after turning off a fire

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housing for workers during the harvest

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The project describes and documents the social and human working conditions of migrant people employed irregularly in Italy in the agricultural field, mainly as seasonal workers during the harvesting season. They follow each part of the harvest of agricultural products such as melons, tomatoes, grapes, olives and oranges in several regions, such as Basilicata, Calabria and Puglia. During the season, that lasts six or even seven months every year, they move for miles from East to West and from South to North of Italy in a sort of pilgrimage.
These irregular migrant workers live or, better, survive in empty houses without electricity and water and in extreme poverty conditions. They don't have any rights, any form of assistance, any voice, any other chance to find a work. And they work even 12 hours per day for only 25 euros. They are often referred to as the new slaves, at the mercy of corporals, mostly Italians, appointed to control not only their jobs but above all their life.
According to the Caritas, in Italy there are almost 4.900.000 migrants; at least, 700.000 of them are employed irregularly. The statistics provided by Inea - the National Institute of Agricultural Economics - refer of 102.000 people employed as workers in the agricultural field, but the "irregulars" are not included in the official count. In the sole Basilicata, there are about 3.000 migrants willing to work in the field.

The images just want to show where these illegal immigrants live and work. As for it, they reveal us our cruelty, our collective responsibilities stretched in not knowing, not understanding, not neither imagining. Why we are always wondering to ourselves : " So how many immigrants there would be in Italy?". Instead of asking ourselves: "Who are they? How we make them live because of our laws? where DO they come from and why did they want or had to leave their country?".

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Name : Alessandro Penso

Birth-Date: 24\07\1978

CF: PNSLSN78L24L719Y

Nationality: Italian

Languages: Italian\ English\Spanish

Home Address: Via G.Albimonte 15, Rome 00176, Italy

Telephone: 0039 3291556835

Email: info@alessandropenso.com

Website: www.alessandropenso.com

Educational:

High school Degree University La Sapienza Scuola Romana di Fotografia, scholarship Workshop: Francesco Zizola "Photojournalism",10b Rome, Tiziana Faraoni "Editing", 10b ROme,scholarship Claudine Doury "Creative Documentary: Using reality to create personale Fiction" at ISSP(LT) Christian Caujolle at FNAC, Milan, Italy.

GRANTS & AWARDS:

2008 Festival Fotoleggendo, honour mention. Italy.

2009 Pdn Photostudent, New York, U.S.A.

2009 Prix de la Photographie, 2th price, Reportage. France.

2009 Prix de la Photographie, honour mention. France.

2009 Lucca digital Festival, honour mention. Italy.

2009 International Photographer of the Year, honour mention. U.S.A.

2009 Photoespana, Finalist Descubrimientos. Madrid, Spain.

2010 International Photographer of the Year, honour mention. U.S.A.

2010 Photo District News Annual, editorial, N.Y. U.S.A.

2011 International Photographer of the Year, honuor mention. U.S.A.

2011 Accademia Apulia, shortlisted , Migrant Workers. U.K.

2011 Center Santa Fè, 1t price project Launch, N.M. U.S.A.

2012 Fotovisura student Grant 2011, Top Finalist. U.S.A.

2012 Terry O'Neill Award, 1st place. U.K.

EXHIBITION & PROJECTIONS:

2012 University of Campobasso, Group show Hearth, Intimity Bondage , It.

2012 Visa pour l'image, Evening Screenings, Migrant Workers Journey. Fr.

2012 Officine Fotografiche. Collective "Time of Rebels" Rome, Italy.

2012 Accademia Apulia, Royal Horseguards, Collective Prize Apulia London, Uk.

2012 Migrant Workers Journey exhibition at Galleria San Fedele, Milan (IT)

2011 Migrant Workers Journey exhibition at “A nord di Tangeri” festival (Rosarno, Calabria, IT)

2011 Migrant Workers Journey exhibition at Fotoleggendo Festival 2011 (Rome, IT)

2011 Migrant Workers Journey exhibition at New Mexico Museum of Art (Santa Fe, USA)

2011 Migrant Workers Journey video projection at HOST gallery (London, UK)

2011 Festival Internazionale di Roma, "The motherland of memories" .Galleria Gallerati. Rome, Italy.

2011 Migrant Workers Journey video projection at Bellaria Film Festival, Italy.

2011 Gothe Istitute at ISSP. Riga, Latvia. 2011 Festival Internazionale di Roma, 12x10.Rome 2010 In Between at Fnac, Rome Italy 2010 In Between at Fnac, Milan, Italy