Martina Cirese

Martina Cirese is an Italian photographer born in Rome in 1988. She enrolled at ISFCI (Istituto di Fotografia) in Rome in 2008. In 2011 she received a scholarship to complete a Master's degree in Contemporary History at Université Paris IV - La Sorbonne, focusing her studies on the rise of totalitarian regimes. From 2012 she began working as a freelance photographer, publishing cover stories for L'Espresso and Internazionale. With her first project, Asankojo, in 2014 she won a one-year fellowship at FABRICA, Benetton's communication research center, where she served as photographer for the global campaigns of the Unhate Foundation – United Colors of Benetton. She has been selected in numerous competitions, including the Prix Virginia, the Gomma Photography Grant, the PhMuseum Award, the Athens Photo Festival, and the Terna Award. Her work has been exhibited throughout Europe and published by international media, including The Guardian, Time, National Geographic, GEO, Le Monde, Disclose ONG, and Burn magazine, among others. After ten years based between Paris and Berlin, she has been living in Rome since 2022.