honorable mention
Stefania Prandi italy
title
Tomatoe Women
In the pictures women don't fully show their faces and their names have been changed. They decided to tell their stories and to be photographed to break the wall of silence, but they understandably don't want to lose their jobs and risk reprisals.
Since 2006, I have been working as a professional journalist for newspapers, magazines and radio. In the course of my journalist experiences, in the newsroom until 2010 and as a freelancer until now, I have covered gender, social and environmental topics, as well as foreign affairs. I have reported from places such as Ethiopia, Albania, India, Greece, Portugal and Italy, for both national and international publications. These publications include Elle Italy, Elle Hungary, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, the Swiss magazine Azione, the Swiss magazine Il Corriere del Ticino, the Italian newspapers Il Fatto Quotidiano, La Repubblica, Il Sole 24 Ore and L’Unità, the magazines Terre di Mezzo and Altreconomia, and the press agency Redattore Sociale. I worked as editor and spokesperson for the Italian news agency, Agenzia Giornalistica RCS (AGR). I wrote and directed the documentary Uranium Project, produced with Lab 80 film, which was screened at several festivals, such as Cinemambiente, the Milano Film Festival and Bergamo Film Meeting. I earned my Master’s degree in Journalism in Italy from Bologna University. I also studied Gender and Intersectionality in Sweden at Linkoping University.
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entry description
Tomatoe Women is a project that aims to tell the stories of female migrant workers who are routinely exploited and sexually harassed by their employers in greenhouses and fields housing Italian vegetables, grown to be exported internationally. These photos were taken on April 2016 on the area of Vittoria, Sicily, where approximately 5,000 Romanian women work as tomato pickers. Inside the greenhouses, located deep in the countryside and often surrounded by walls and barbed wire, female migrant workers are asked for sex in order to keep their jobs. This practice of coercion has been denounced by trade unions, associations, priests and researchers in Italy. Nonetheless, nothing has changed. Reporting sexual harassment is often unsuccessful because the women are rarely believed. The authorities often side with bosses. Due to the economic crisis and the high migration levels causing an influx of workforce, this kind of exploitation is going to increase.In the pictures women don't fully show their faces and their names have been changed. They decided to tell their stories and to be photographed to break the wall of silence, but they understandably don't want to lose their jobs and risk reprisals.
about the photographer
I started to work as photojournalist in 2015. During 2016, my photos have been published by Al Jazeera, El País, Open Society Foundations, the Swiss magazine Azione, Elle Italy and Pagina99. For my photojournalist project Tomatoes Women, I received an honorable mention from the Moscow International Foto Awards (MIFA), as well as named as one of the finalists for the LuganoPhotoDays festival.Since 2006, I have been working as a professional journalist for newspapers, magazines and radio. In the course of my journalist experiences, in the newsroom until 2010 and as a freelancer until now, I have covered gender, social and environmental topics, as well as foreign affairs. I have reported from places such as Ethiopia, Albania, India, Greece, Portugal and Italy, for both national and international publications. These publications include Elle Italy, Elle Hungary, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, the Swiss magazine Azione, the Swiss magazine Il Corriere del Ticino, the Italian newspapers Il Fatto Quotidiano, La Repubblica, Il Sole 24 Ore and L’Unità, the magazines Terre di Mezzo and Altreconomia, and the press agency Redattore Sociale. I worked as editor and spokesperson for the Italian news agency, Agenzia Giornalistica RCS (AGR). I wrote and directed the documentary Uranium Project, produced with Lab 80 film, which was screened at several festivals, such as Cinemambiente, the Milano Film Festival and Bergamo Film Meeting. I earned my Master’s degree in Journalism in Italy from Bologna University. I also studied Gender and Intersectionality in Sweden at Linkoping University.
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