Melissa Ianniello
(Naples,
1991) is a documentary photographer based in Bologna, Italy. After graduating in Philosophy, she studied documentary photography at Spazio Labo', in Bologna, including participating in its international educational program, “Photo Workshop New York”, in Brooklyn.
In 2018 she began her first long-term project, Wish it Was a Coming Out, about the taboo in Italy surrounding elderly homosexual people. In 2020, she created M. G. I. A. B., a story about trans identity. In the same year, she was selected as a student for the XXXIII Eddie Adams Workshop. Above all, in that year, she was hospitalized because of health problems: from this intimate and deep experience, she created the project That Month, still unpublished in 2024 because she needed time to process the content of that work. In 2022, her first solo exhibition takes place in the United States, at the Rochester Art Center in Rochester (Minneapolis).
She has won several Italian and international awards, such as the first edition of Biennale della Fotografia Femminile and the John White Keep In Flight Award, and meanwhile her photographs have been exhibited at important festivals. Most importantly, she was a finalist for the W. Eugene Smith Grant 2020.
The Guardian, Vogue, Spiegel Wissen, Internazionale, L-Mag, Q Code Magazine are some of the newspapers and magazines that have featured her work. Her artistic research focuses on themes related to sexuality on one hand, and identity and self-exploration on the other, drawing from intimate and autobiographical experiences.
In 2018 she began her first long-term project, Wish it Was a Coming Out, about the taboo in Italy surrounding elderly homosexual people. In 2020, she created M. G. I. A. B., a story about trans identity. In the same year, she was selected as a student for the XXXIII Eddie Adams Workshop. Above all, in that year, she was hospitalized because of health problems: from this intimate and deep experience, she created the project That Month, still unpublished in 2024 because she needed time to process the content of that work. In 2022, her first solo exhibition takes place in the United States, at the Rochester Art Center in Rochester (Minneapolis).
She has won several Italian and international awards, such as the first edition of Biennale della Fotografia Femminile and the John White Keep In Flight Award, and meanwhile her photographs have been exhibited at important festivals. Most importantly, she was a finalist for the W. Eugene Smith Grant 2020.
The Guardian, Vogue, Spiegel Wissen, Internazionale, L-Mag, Q Code Magazine are some of the newspapers and magazines that have featured her work. Her artistic research focuses on themes related to sexuality on one hand, and identity and self-exploration on the other, drawing from intimate and autobiographical experiences.
Melissa Ianniello
(Napoli,
1991) è una fotografa documentarista con base a Bologna. Si laurea
in Filosofia e successivamente studia fotografia documentaria presso
Spazio Labo', a Bologna, prendendo parte anche al suo programma di
studi internazionale, “Photo Workshop New York”, a Brooklyn.
Nel 2018 inizia il suo primo progetto a lungo termine, Wish it Was a Coming Out, sul tabù legato all'omosessualità nella terza età in Italia. Nel corso del 2020 realizza M. G. I. A. B., una storia sull’identità trans. Nello stesso anno, viene selezionata come studentessa per il XXXIII Virtual Eddie Adams Workshop. Soprattutto, nel corso di quell’anno, viene ricoverata a causa di problemi di salute: da questa intima e profonda esperienza, dà vita al progetto That Month, ancora inedito nel 2024 perché ha avuto bisogno di tempo per metabolizzare il contenuto di quel lavoro. Nel 2022, inaugura la sua prima personale negli Stati Uniti, al Rochester Art Center di Rochester (Minneapolis).
Ha vinto diversi premi italiani e internazionali, tra cui la prima edizione della Biennale della Fotografia Femminile e il John White Keep in Flight Award,e nel mentre le sue fotografie sono state esposte in importanti festival. Soprattutto, è stata finalista al W. Eugene Smith Grant 2020.
The Guardian, Vogue, Spiegel Wissen, Internazionale, L-Mag, Q Code Magazine sono alcuni dei giornali e riviste che hanno pubblicato il suo lavoro. La sua ricerca artistica si focalizza su temi legati da un lato alla sessualità e dall’altro all’identità e all’esplorazione di sé, a partire da esperienze intime e autobiografiche.
Nel 2018 inizia il suo primo progetto a lungo termine, Wish it Was a Coming Out, sul tabù legato all'omosessualità nella terza età in Italia. Nel corso del 2020 realizza M. G. I. A. B., una storia sull’identità trans. Nello stesso anno, viene selezionata come studentessa per il XXXIII Virtual Eddie Adams Workshop. Soprattutto, nel corso di quell’anno, viene ricoverata a causa di problemi di salute: da questa intima e profonda esperienza, dà vita al progetto That Month, ancora inedito nel 2024 perché ha avuto bisogno di tempo per metabolizzare il contenuto di quel lavoro. Nel 2022, inaugura la sua prima personale negli Stati Uniti, al Rochester Art Center di Rochester (Minneapolis).
Ha vinto diversi premi italiani e internazionali, tra cui la prima edizione della Biennale della Fotografia Femminile e il John White Keep in Flight Award,e nel mentre le sue fotografie sono state esposte in importanti festival. Soprattutto, è stata finalista al W. Eugene Smith Grant 2020.
The Guardian, Vogue, Spiegel Wissen, Internazionale, L-Mag, Q Code Magazine sono alcuni dei giornali e riviste che hanno pubblicato il suo lavoro. La sua ricerca artistica si focalizza su temi legati da un lato alla sessualità e dall’altro all’identità e all’esplorazione di sé, a partire da esperienze intime e autobiografiche.
Awards
2021
– Tokyo International Foto Awards,
3rd place (Bronze Prize) in the category People/Portrait and
2nd place (Silver Prize) in the category Editorial
2020
– John White “Keep in Flight” Award, winner
2020
– W. Eugene Smith Grant, finalist
2020
– World Report Award, finalist in the category Single Shot
2020
– Moscow International Foto Awards, 3rd place (Bronze Prize) in the category People/Portrait
2025
– Pride Photo Award, winner2024
– Annual Photography Awards, 2nd place in the category Mobile Photography2024
– Budapest International Foto Awards, 3rd place (Bronze Prize) in the category People/Self-Portrait2021
– Bresciani Visual Art Special Female Photograhy Award, winner2021
– KLPA2021 Portrait Prize, Kuala Lumpur International Photoawards, finalist2021
– Tokyo International Foto Awards,
3rd place (Bronze Prize) in the category People/Portrait and
2nd place (Silver Prize) in the category Editorial2020
– John White “Keep in Flight” Award, winner2020
– W. Eugene Smith Grant, finalist
2020
– World Report Award, finalist in the category Single Shot2020
– Moscow International Foto Awards, 3rd place (Bronze Prize) in the category People/Portrait2020
– Helsinki Photo Festival, winner2020
– FMoPA's 10th Annual International Photography Competition, 2nd place in the category Documentation / Photojournalism2020
– Biennale della Fotografia Femminile, winner2020
– Italy Photo Award, finalist2018
– Gran Premio Lumix Portfolio Italia Award, finalist2018
– Voglino Prize, finalist2018
– SI FEST Lanfranco Colombo Prize, winner2018
– Marco Pesaresi Award, finalist2017
– CHEAP Street Poster Art Festival, selected2016
– Photo Vogue Festival, Portfolio Review, selected2014
– CHEAP Street Poster Art Festival, selectedSolo Exhibitions
Group Exhibitions
Publications
The Guardian | Vogue | Spiegel Wissen | Internazionale | L’Oeil de la Photograhie | Are We Europe | Will Italia | Tagebuch | Myp Magazine | Donna Moderna | ze.tt | l-mag | Babelmed | Medfeminiswiya | Q Code Magazine |
Clients
Serena Dandini (social campaign “La differenza è contro la violenza”) | Drusilla Foer | Instabili Vaganti | Martini Elettrico (Bologna’s Conservatory) | Mantova Pride Festival 2021 | Elastico Records | FUCKSIA | Smalls Jazz Club (NY) | Locomotiv Club | UNA (Marzia Stano) | Kaki King | SOOKEE | Marino Dolan (musician) | Sandra Cavallini (theatre actress) | Francesca Falchi (theatre actress ) | Marta Proietti Orzella (theatre actress) | Donatella Allegro (theatre actress) | TRENOff Fringe Festival | Magnifico Teatrino Errante | Mata-Malam | Associazione Spigolo Tondo | Progetto Itaca Bologna (Mental Health Association) | Comune di Bologna
Training
2020
– The Eddie Adams Workshop XXXIII, New York (USA)
Education
2022
– “Melissa Ianniello: Wish it Was a Coming Out”, Rochester Art Center, Rochester (Minneapolis), Minnesota, USA https://www.theitalianculturalcenter.org/event-49825342021
– M. G. I. A. B., video installation within “Roma Fotografia”, Palazzo Merulana (Rome, Italy)2021
– Wish it Was a Coming Out, “Fuori Biennale”, Biennale della Fotografia Femminile (Mantova, Italy)2019
– Wish it Was a Coming Out, SI FEST Savignano Immagini (Savignano sul Rubicone, Italy)Group Exhibitions
2021
– Wish it Was a Coming Out, Roma Fotografia, Bresciani Visual Art Gallery (Rome, Italy)2020
– Wish it Was a Coming Out, Photoville Fence (Atlanta, Brooklyn, Winchester, Calgary, Denver, Durham, Houston, New Orleans, Sarasota, Seattle - USA)2020
– Wish it Was a Coming Out, Helsinki Photo Festival (Helsinki, Finland)2020
– FMoPA's 10th Annual International Photography Competition (Tampa – Florida, USA)2018
– Wish it Was a Coming Out, Centro Italiano della Fotografia d'Autore (Bibbiena, Italy)2017
– #Disorder, CHEAP Street Poster Art Festival (Bologna, Italy)2014
– #Green, CHEAP Street Poster Art Festival (Bologna, Italy)Publications
The Guardian | Vogue | Spiegel Wissen | Internazionale | L’Oeil de la Photograhie | Are We Europe | Will Italia | Tagebuch | Myp Magazine | Donna Moderna | ze.tt | l-mag | Babelmed | Medfeminiswiya | Q Code Magazine |
Clients
Serena Dandini (social campaign “La differenza è contro la violenza”) | Drusilla Foer | Instabili Vaganti | Martini Elettrico (Bologna’s Conservatory) | Mantova Pride Festival 2021 | Elastico Records | FUCKSIA | Smalls Jazz Club (NY) | Locomotiv Club | UNA (Marzia Stano) | Kaki King | SOOKEE | Marino Dolan (musician) | Sandra Cavallini (theatre actress) | Francesca Falchi (theatre actress ) | Marta Proietti Orzella (theatre actress) | Donatella Allegro (theatre actress) | TRENOff Fringe Festival | Magnifico Teatrino Errante | Mata-Malam | Associazione Spigolo Tondo | Progetto Itaca Bologna (Mental Health Association) | Comune di Bologna
Training
2020
– The Eddie Adams Workshop XXXIII, New York (USA)2019
– Spazio Labo’ Photography, “The Languages of Photography”, Bologna (Italy)2018
– Spazio Labo’ Photography, International Master in Documentary Photography with Davide Monteleone, Bologna (Italy)2014
– PWNY 2014, “Discovery Street” with Landon Nordeman, New York (USA)2014
– PWNY 2014, “The Open City” with Carolyn Drake & Andres Gonzalez, New York (USA)2014
– PWNY 2014, “The Other Story” with Erica McDonald, New York (USA)2014
– Spazio Labo’ Photography, “Being Involved” with Michael Ackerman, Bologna (Italy)2013
– Spazio Labo’ Photography, “Fotogiornalismo di news e attualità” with Alessandro Tosatto, Bologna (Italy)Education