honorable mention
sandro maddalena italy
title
Let the train go
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entry description
From the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine it was clear the fundamental role that the railways would play in the country's liberation struggle. In almost seven months the trains have never stopped carrying goods and people inside and outside the borders of Ukraine. In the first weeks, the Russians, convinced that they would obtain a quick victory, avoided destroying the railway lines in order to use them during the occupation. Due to the strong Ukrainian resistance and the consequent protraction of the war, the invasion forces have changed their strategy by starting to target the structures linked to the railways to try to paralyze the country. Although the work of railway personnel has become significantly more dangerous, trains continue to operate daily, even a short distance from the front line, to allow civilians to move to safer areas.about the photographer
Sandro Maddalena was born in Vico Equense (Naples) in 1984. He obtained a degree in scenography and then a master in photojournalism at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. In 2014 he documented the events related to the Maidan uprising for AFP. The work on the Ukrainian revolution is published all over the world and gets several national and international awards (IPA, IPOTY, ND Awards, NIkon Talent). In the same year he documented the Donbass crisis for NurPhoto Agency. In the following years he mainly dealt with migratory flows and the consequences of the Ukrainian conflict. Thanks to his work in Lesvos he won an award at HIPA in 2018. He collaborated with Rai, the national public broadcasting company of Italy, as a still photographer. His photographic works have been exhibited in museums and photographic festivals in Italy and abroad.back to gallery