Biography

I started to take pictures because my father was an amateur photographer. His photos surrounded me since I was a kid – they were everywhere, on the tables, in the closets, in the bookcases. He used to bring me in his dark room and he encouraged me to use it and his cameras. It was inevitable to approach photography so I started taking pictures very soon. It was like a game, for years, but in 2004, when I started to confront myself with a story which involves me in an emotional way, the Monia’s project, I realized that the camera was a powerful medium to observe and get in touch with the world and a tool to communicate my own view of the world around me in the most immediate way.

Giovanni Cocco (born in Sulmona, 1973) is an Italian visual artist and photographer whose multidisciplinary practice spans photography, visual journalism, and conceptual projects. His work explores complex themes such as identity, memory, urban transformation, and social dynamics, combining visual storytelling with anthropological research.

After many years of collaboration with major Italian and international publications — including L’Espresso, La Repubblica, Internazionale, Newsweek, Le Monde, National Geographic, Bloomberg Business, Financial Times, Vanity Fair, Io Donna, and CNN World — he has continued his editorial work while gradually evolving his practice toward a more personal and conceptual direction, delving into social and anthropological issues.

Between 2016 and 2022, he published four monographs: Monia (2016, self-published), Burladies (2018, self-published), Displacement (2021, Postcart) and Naples (2022, MareVerlagh).

His work has been exhibited in festivals, galleries, and museums worldwide, including Art Basel Scope Miami, ZonaMaco Foto in Mexico City, MART – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, and MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome.

Since 2013, he has been investigating the phenomenon of displacement, which affects the inhabitants of historic European cities increasingly emptied and depopulated due to capitalism. This approach is now evolving into a reflection on the beauty of these same places, their people, and their architecture — a fleeting, evanescent beauty that he translates into deep conceptual photographic forms.

Professional Experience

ULILEARN www.ulilearn.com
2018 – present
Founder, Educator and Curator

IED – Istituto Europeo di Design, Rome
2022 – present
Educator in documentary photography

NIKON SCHOOL Italy
2022-2023
Educator

STUDIO GIOVANNI COCCO www.giovannicocco.it
2017-present
Founder coordinating and managing the editorial, curatorial and educational activities of the studio.

VII PHOTO www.viiphoto.com
2010 -2012
Photographer at Program Mentor

10B PHOTOGRAPHY www.10bphotography.com
2008-2010
Studio manager for fine art printing

NAZCA PICTURES www.nazcapictures.com
2006 -2010
Producing contents for Italian and International magazines and newspapers.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2022 Plantarium, Institute of Italian Culture, Hamburg, Germany.
2021 Plantarium, Acta International Gallery, Rome, Italy.
2019 Plantarium, Gallery 10B Photography. Rome, Italy
2019 Plantarium, Page Blanche Gallery, Paris, France
2019 Displacement, Festival Riaperture, Ferrara, Italy
2018 Burladies, Magazzini Fotografici, Naples, Italy
2017 Displacement, Spazio MAW, Sulmona, Italy
2017 Monia, FolloWme Pinacoteca Civica, Follonica, Italy.
2017 Monia, Casa Romei Museum, Ferrara, Italy.
2016 Monia, Reminders Photography Stronghold Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.
2015 Displacement, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy.
2014 Monia, Perugia Social Photo Fest, Perugia, Italy.
2014 Moving Walls, Festival Lector in Fabula, Conversano, Italy.
2014 Moving Walls, International Month of Photography, Guatemala.
2013 Forgotten Memories, FotoLeggendo, Roma, Italy.
2011 Burladies Photographia, Milan, Italy.
2011 Burladies, Summer Jamboree #12, Senigallia, Italy.
2010 Burladies MART – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Trento and Rovereto, Italy.
2010 Burladies, ArteFoto, Ancona, Italy.
2010 Burladies, 10B Photography Gallery, Rome, Italy.
2006 Sarajevo lives again, Festival L’oeil en Seyne, Toulouse, France.

Selected Collective Exhibitions

2020 Displacement, LOBA – GONGBECH Gallery Jeju island, Korea
2019 Rock’n’Roll is a state of the soul, Palazzo Baveria, Senigallia, Italy
2018 Abitare il Paesaggio, 10B Gallery, Rome, Italy
2017 Keep Your Eyes Peeled, Off Galerie, Berlin Germany
2016 Moving Beyond Borders, Bruxelles, Calais, Paris, Pozzallo, Poitiers and Rabat
2015 Monia Kolga Tbilisi Photo, Batumi. Georgia.
2015 Moving Beyond Borders, Centre Culturel Jacques Franck, St Gilles, Brussels.
2015 Monia, Photon Festival at the State Small Theater. Vilnius, Lituanie.
2015 L’Esodo, Exhibition en plein air. Fotoleggendo, Rome, Italy.
2014 Monia, Les Boutographies jury’s projection, Montpelier, France.
2014 Monia, Organ Vida, International Photography Festival, Zagreb, Croatia.
2013 Burladies, Center of Modern Art M17, Kiev, Ukraine.
2013 Kosovo – Cultural Genocide, ICN Space, London, England.
2012 I See Griffin Museum, Boston, MA.
2012 Monia, SCAM Roger Pic, Paris, France.
2011 Lampedusa, Foiano Fotografia, Foiano, Italy.
2011 Burladies, Sete Festival, Paris, France.
2009 Rockabillies, Gallery Dimensione Massima, FotoGrafia Festival, Rome, Italy.
2007 Italian Muslims, Fotografia International Festival of Photography, Rome, Italy.

Awards and Grants

2024 Winner Arttaca Grant
2024 Finalist at Prix Roger Pic.
2020 Finalist at Leika Oskar Barnack Award.
2017 Winner Fedrigoni Top Award, Barcellona.
2016 Finalist EPF Grant, Burn Magazine – Magnum Foundation.
2016 Third place Medphoto Award.
2016 Shortlist Athens Photo Festival.
2016 Winner at American Photography Award 32.
2015 Finalist at Lugano Photo Days.
2015 Winner Reminders Photography Stronghold Grant.
2015 Winner personal category, PDN Photo Annual.
2014 Finalist at PHE Ojodepez.
2014 Winner American Photography Award 30.
2013 Finalist Leica Photographer Awards.
2013 Honorable Mention, Anthropographia Award.
2013 Honorable Mention, Foto Visura Grant.
2013 Winner American Photography Award 29.
2013 Runner up International Street Photography Awards.
2013 Shortlist price Pix Palace-Visas De L’Ani.
2013 Shortlist Prix Lucas Dolega.
2013 First Prize  Scenic Category Golden camera.
2012 Honorable Mention Prix Roger Pic.
2012 Winner EPF Grant, Burn Magazine – Magnum Foundation.

Art Fair

2019 Plantarium, Art Paris, Grand Palais, Paris. France.
2018 A che ora chiude Venezia, London Art Fair. England.
2018 A che ora chiude Venezia, Zonamaco. Mexico city.
2018 Burladies, Scope Miami Beach – Art Basel. Miami.
2017 A che ora chiude Venezia, Affordable Art Fairs, London.
2011 Burladies, Mia Fair. Milan.
2011 Burladies, Artissima. Torino.