About

Andy Rocchelli Grant is an international award, now in its second edition, promoted by CESURA in the name of its co-founder Andy Rocchelli, photojournalist killed in Ukraine in 2014. Andy was an irreplaceable fire starter, and to make sure that his values as a photographer and as a person can continue to burn, since 2021 CESURA has established a Grant in his name to allow an author or new talent to create a photographic book in full freedom of expression, as Andy would have wanted.

Printed editorial production was a key aspect of his research as a means of dissemination and completion of the work. The purpose of the Grant is therefore to identify the best unpublished photographic dummy and award the winner with the production and publication of the book by Cesura Publish, the collective’s publishing house.

The first edition of the Grant received 126 applications from more than 25 countries and awarded the prize to Kanta Nomura with the publication of the photobook The Yoshida Dormitory Students’ History with Cesura Publish.

Applications are open from May 24th, 2024 in commemoration of the 10-year anniversary of Andy’s passing.

The jury will meet in October 2024 to select a short list of finalists. In February 2025, the winning book will be announced, and launched.

There’s no entrance fee, no theme and you can send your dummy both printed or PDF.

Find out more on the grant guidelines here.

In memory of Andy

Andy Rocchelli was an Italian photographer, member and founder of CESURA.
He worked as a photojournalist for eight years, documenting Eastern Europe, the Arab Spring in Libya and Tunisia, human rights violations in Kyrgyzstan and Ingushetia. In Italy, he worked on the phenomenon of velinism and the relationship between migrants and organized crime. At the time of his death, near the city of Sloviansk in Ukraine on May 24th 2014, he was documenting the conditions of civilians trapped in the middle of the Donbass conflict. Russian Interiors, his photography book, was published posthumously by Cesura Publish. Andy was an example of integrity and fairness: in his work he was driven by great passion and constant determination, he lived it in a physical and intuitive way.
To this day, his values are still one of the pillars of our group. He had the ability to see great potential in the small things, and to make more with less.
A fundamental step in his research was printed editorial production, a means of completing and disseminating his work. Andy was an irreplaceable firestarter, and to make sure that his values as a photographer and as a man can continue to burn, we have decided to establish a Grant in his name and to allow an author or a new talent to create a photographic book in full freedom of expression, as Andy would have wanted.

Find out more on the grant guidelines here.

Timeline

First Edition Winner

KANTA NOMURA - The Yoshida dormitory student’s history

The first edition of the Grant received 126 applications from more than 25 countries and awarded the prize to Kanta Nomura with the publication of the photobook The Yoshida Dormitory Students’ History with Cesura Publish.

KANTA NOMURA with The Yoshida dormitory student’s history.

The Yoshida Dormitory is a self-governing dormitory that has been run by students themselves for a long time. It was also a place where a lot of people from inside and outside of the university gathered for the performance of plays and music and fostered student culture. In recent years, the dormitory students have been at odds with the university, which has been demanding that they all leave the dormitory due to the building’s age. However, in April 2019, the university finally filed a lawsuit against the dormitory students, demanding that they vacate the building. The dormitory students disagreed. They have asked for a withdrawal, but the conflict continues.

Special Mention

MIKHAIL BUSHKOV - Zürich

Due to the high quality of the dummies received, the jury of the first edition of the Andy Rocchelli Grant awarde a first special mention to Mikhail Bushkov and his project Zürich:

“Zürich Is a documentary work that started 10 years ago when I and my wife moved from our hometown of Rostov-on-Don, Russia to Zürich, Switzerland.

I gradually found myself stuck between two places – the “old” home and the “new” home. The memories of the old one fading and the reality of the new one becoming familiar.

The book focuses heavily on my “small” and “big” family and on what it means to be a family.”

Special mention

ANGELO VIGNALI - How to raise a hand

Due to the high quality of the dummies received, the jury of the first edition of the Andy Rocchelli Grant awarded a second special mention to Angelo Vignali and his project How to raise a hand:

“After my father’s death, as I approached the enormous archive of photographs and drawings produced by him throughout his life, I found a cardboard box containing cutouts of photographs of his fingers: 313 black and white handmade prints.

This discovery led me to reshape his body of work to restore a dialogue with him, bringing back his presence through his hands.

The work uses archival photography, performance, and sculpture to explore the themes of family, memory, and loss. It is a search and longing for identity.”