Andrea Rocchelli

Andrea (Andy) Rocchelli (September 27, 1983 - May 24, 2014) was a freelance professional photojournalist, founder and member of the independent photographers collective * Cesura (photographers group) .^[1]

Biography

Rocchelli, though only thirty, was an experienced war photographer with a diversified curriculum including several war reports from north Africa and central Asia among others. His photos have been published on a number of world leading journals and magazines. He had a Master's degree from the Polytechnic University of Milan and previously worked at Grazia Neri photo agency. He was also trained by Magnum Photos photographer Alex Majoli

His posthumous work "Russian Interiors" is being currently published by Cesurapublish via crowdfunding and is a photographic investigation of femininity in Russia.

The 2014 Ponchielli prize for photography has been dedicated to the memory of Rocchelli.
In 2014 the Association Ilaria Alpi has shown the work of Andrea Rocchelli in an exhibition called Ukraina Revolution in which the last 20 photos of Rocchelli were exhibited.^[2]

Death and Investigation

He was killed while reporting the armed conflict taking place in Ukraine after the 2013 Maidan Protests in Andreyevka, in the proximity of the city of Sloviansk on the 24 of May 2014. The exact dynamics of his death remain obscure. Rocchelli's car, in which he was travelling with human rights activist and interpreter Andrei Mironov (also deceased in the attack), French photoreporter William Roguelon and the no better identified driver "Evgeny", has been attacked by mortar shells which eventually hit both Mironov and Rocchelli fatally.^[3]

There are two inquiries currently undergoing in Italy (Procura of Pavia)^[4] and Ukraine but no reports have emerged yet from investigations. The Italian minister for foreign affairs Federica Mogherini has repeatedly asked^[5] the Ukrainian authorities to look into the events but no major findings have been announced to date. MP Arturo Scotto (Left and Freedom) has presented a parliamentary interrogation to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to which vice-minister Lapo Pistelli has replied.

During the July 2014 visit of Italian Foreign Minister Mogherini to Ukraine, the Ukrainian foreign minister has assured that an official inquiry on the death of Rocchelli is currently in progress although no details have been disclosed on the dynamics of the inquiry. The Ukrainian minister has also mentioned the will to visit Rocchelli's family in his next visit to Italy to provide an update on the inquiry.

Rocchelli is survived by his partner and baby-son.

Exhibitions

Rocchelli's photojournalist work has been exhibited in several occasions. After his sudden death the Ilaria Alpi Prize organized an exhibition of Rocchelli's work in Ukraine in San Marino. Spazio Reale in Monte Carasso (Switzerland) has hosted an exhibition of Rocchelli's photos in Ukraine under the title Evidence.

Prizes

Andrea Rocchelli and Andrei Mironov were awarded the Kamerton Prize posthumously named after Anna Politkovskaya on 7 September 2014.^[6]

In 2015 Andrea Rocchelli was the recipient of the 2nd Prize of the section Portraits, Stories of the World Press Photo contest.^[7] The award was given for his work "Russian Interiors" which is described by the prize as: "Russian women are portrayed in the interiors of their own homes, in the moments just before or after posing for a photograph that would be used for a dating website." ^[8]

References