FRANCO ZECCHIN

Born in 1953 in Milan, Italy, Franco Zecchin moved to Palermo in 1975, where he became a professional photographer, working on the Mafia, political corruption and social conditions in Sicily. In 1977, with Letizia Battaglia, he created a Cultural Centre for Photography and, in 1980, he was among the founders of the Documentation Center against the Mafia « G. Impastato « . He has make theater and films in the psychiatric hospital in Palermo. In 1988 he became a nominated member of Magnum agency. The engaged work made in Sicily between 1975 and 1993 is recognized internationally. Between 1990 and 1995 he lead a photographic research on nomadism and the use of environmental resources working on dozen societies in different parts of the world. Today he lives and works in Marseille, where he continues to explore, through photography, the relationship between appropriation of land and social practices. Awarded by the New York Times Award (1987, New York, USA), by the International Award of Journalism (1988, Trento, Italy) and by the « Humanity photo Award » (2000, Beijing, China), he published several books ; among others, Continente Sicilia (Postcart, 2019 and Contrejour, 2019), Chroniques Siciliennes, (with L. Battaglia, CNP 1989, Actes Sud, 2000), Nomades (Editions de la Martiniére, 1998), Dovere di Cronaca – The duty to report (with L. Battaglia, Peliti Associati, 2006).

His pictures are in the collection of The Rochester International Museum of Photography, in the MOMA of New York, USA, and in the  » Maison Européenne de la Photographie » in Paris, France.

Main Exhibitions :

2019    Continente Sicilia, Centro Internazionale di Fotografia, Palermo, Italy


            Photographier le silence. Enquête visuelle sur un espace monastique, Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseille, France

2018    La condizione umana. Oltre l’istituzione totale, Palazzo Ajutamicristo, Palerme, Italy

2015    Silesia, Foto Art Festival, Bielsko-Biała. Poland

2013    Antimafia, Musée de l’Arsenal, Métz, France

            Le Noir et le Bleu, un rêve méditerranéen, MuCEM, Marseille, France

2012    Giovanni Falcone – An Italian Hero, Embassy of Italy, Washington, DC, USA

2011    Les 30 ans du New York Times Magazine, Rencontres d’Arles, France

2007    Les Nomades de la Mer, Festival International de la Photo de Mer, Vannes, France

2006    The Duty to Report, with L.Battaglia, Festival International di Roma, Rome, Italy

2005    Cavalieri della Mongolia, Festival International, Roma, and Su Palatu, Villanova Monteleone, Italy

2004    Crime and Corruption : Sicilian Chronicles, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia

2002    Mafiosi inginocchiatevi !, Festival International Photosynkyria, Thessalonique, Greece

2001    La Sicile en révolte, Centre Andaluz de la Fotografia, Almeria, Spain

2000    Je bouge donc je suis, Festival International de Biarritz, France

1999    Nomades, Festival Chroniques Nomades, Honfleur, France

            Le monde et l’éphémère, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles, France

1997    Kid Size, Vitra Design Museum, Rotterdam, Copenhague, Oslo, Weimar, Glasgow

1995    La Sicile noire et blanche, Centre Méditerranéen de la Photographie, Bastia et Médiathèque André-Malraux, Tourcoing;

            The Dead, National Museum of Photography, Bradford, UK;

            Un secolo di ritratto, Biennale of Venice, Italy

1993    Immagini Italiane, Aperture Fund., Coll. Guggenheim, Venice, Naples, New York

            Sicile, Mai de la Photo, Reims, France;

            Pollution and public health in the Katowice region, Katowice Museum, Poland


1990    Italian Photography, FotoFest, The International Month of Photography, Houston, USA

1988    Palermo, Centro Storico, Parlement Européen, Strasbourg, France

1986    Sicily and the Mafia, International Museum of Photography, Rochester, USA

            Nomades, Galerie Camera Obscura, Paris, France

Download the biography  : Zecchin CV