Born in Sulmona, Italy, 1973.
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 (Sulmona, 1973) is a visual artist, a poliedric photographer. His own style and his various concepts, as a result of his continuous research and inspiration, pass through different technical means of photography, that become in his hands powerful communication channels of his way to view. He always had a great variety of themes to capture, faced with an edge always different; between 2016 and 2021 he produced four monographs: Monia (2016, self publishing), Burladies (2018, self publishing), Displacement (2021, Postcart), Naples (2022, MareVerlagh).
After many years in the greatest International and national magazines/ newspapers (L’Espresso, La Repubblica, L’Internazionale, Newsweek, Mare, Le Monde, National Geographic, Bloomberg business, Financial Times, National Geographic and more), during which he also joined VII International Agency (2010 – 2012) he focused himself and his work on a different perspective of social issues, an introspective input towards anthropological topics.
A selection of Cocco’s award and grant includes: Emerging Photographer Fund (2012, Burn Magazine and Magnum Foundation), American Photography Award (2013, 2014), PDN, (2015, Photo Annual) Reminders Photography Stronghold (2015, Japan), Fedrigoni Top Award (2017, Italy).
Giovanni Cocco’s work have been presented as installations and or exhibitions in festivals, galleries, fair and museum worldwide, including Art Basel Scope Miami, ZonaMaco foto, Mexico City, MART – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Trento and Rovereto and MACRO, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome.
From 2013, he analyzes the phenomenon of displacement, that strikes inhabitants of some European historical cities which are emptying and depopulating of its citizens as a consequence of the capitalism. This approach is now evolving into observation of the Beauty of these same sites, of people, of architecture, that is an evanescent and fleeting value of our reality and that he’s photographically translating in a deep conceptual shapes.
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
Plantarium, Page Blanche Gallery, Paris, France
Displacement – New Town No Town, Festival Riaperture, Ferrara, Italy
2018
Burladies, Magazzini Fotografici, Naples, Italy
2017
Displacement – New Town No Town, Spazio MAW, Sulmona, Italy
Monia Pinacoteca Civica, FolloWme Festival, Follonica, Italy
Monia Museo di Casa Romei, Riaperture Festival, Ferrara, Italy.
2016
Monia Reminders Photography Stronghold Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.
2015
Displacement MACRO, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy.
2014
Monia Perugia Social Photo Fest, Perugia, Italy.
Moving Walls Festival Lector in Fabula, Conversano, Italy.
Moving Walls International Month of Photography, Guatemala city, Guatemala.
2011
Burladies Photographia, Milan, Italy.
Burladies Summer Jamboree #12, Senigallia, Italy.
2010
Burladies MART – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Trento and Rovereto, Italy.
Burladies ArteFoto, Ancona, Italy.
Burladies 10B Photography Gallery, Rome, Italy.
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 at the Off Galerie, Berlin Gallery Weekend. Berlin Germany
2016
Moving Beyond Borders Bruxelles, Calais, Paris, Pozzallo, Poitiers and Rabat
2015
Monia Kolga Tbilisi Photo in Batumi. Georgia.
Moving Beyond Borders Centre Culturel Jacques Franck, St Gilles, Brussels.
Monia Photon Festival at the State Small Theater. Vilnius, Lituanie.
L’Esodo Exhibition en plein air. Fotoleggendo, Rome, Italy.
2014
Monia Les Boutographies jury’s projection, Montpelier, France.
Monia Organ Vida, International Photography Festival, Zagreb, Croatia.
2013
Burladies Center of Modern Art M17, Kiev, Ukraine.
Kosovo – Cultural Genocide ICN Space, London, England.
Forgotten Memories FotoLeggendo, Roma, Italy.
2012
I See Griffin Museum, Boston, MA.
Monia SCAM Roger Pic, Paris, France.
2011
Lampedusa Foiano Fotografia, Foiano, Italy.
Burladies Ilexphoto, Mia Fair, Milan, Italy.
Burladies Ilexphoto, Artissima, Torino, Italy.
Burladies Sete Festival, Paris, France.
2009
Rockabillies Gallery Dimensione Massima 10 x12, FotoGrafia Festival, Rome, Italy.
2007
Italian Muslims Fotografia International Festival of Photography, Rome, Italy.
2006
Sarajevo lives again Festival L’oeil en Seyne, Toulouse, France.
Awards and Grants
2020
Displacement finalist at LOBA Leica Oskar Barnack Award
2017
The book Monia Fedrigoni Top Award, Barcellona, Spain.
2016
Displacement finalist at Emerging Photographer Grant, Burn Magazine – Magnum Foundation.
Displacement 3rd place Medphoto Award
Displacement shortlist Athens Photo Festival
Displacement winner at American Photography Award 32.
2015
Monia finalist at Lugano Photo Days.
Monia Winner of the Reminders Photography Stronghold Prize
Monia Winner personal category, PDN Photo Annual.
2014
Toiling Tunisia finalist at PHE Ojodepez.
Toiling Tunisia winner at American Photography Award 30.
2013
Toiling Tunisia finalist at Leica Photographer Awards.
Forgotten Memories Honorable Mention, Anthropographia Award.
Monia Honorable Mention, Foto Visura Grant.
Forgotten Memories winner at American Photography Award 29.
Forgotten Memories Runner up International Street Photography Awards.
Monia Shortlist price Pix Palace-Visas De L’Ani.
Forgotten Memories shortlist Prix Lucas Dolega.
Burladies First Prize in the Scenic Category Golden camera.
2012
Monia Honorable Mention Prix Roger Pic Paris.
Monia EPF Grant, Burn Magazine – Magnum Foundation.