My project, "The Desert Belongs to Woman," is about the many ways in which Sahrawi women play a central role in this atypical and advanced Muslim society. I will work in both the occupied territories of Western Sahara and the refugee camps in Algeria.
Simona Ghizzoni was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy, in 1977. After studying the classics, she attended the Istituto Superiore di Arti Visive e Fotografia in Padua,
where she graduated in 2002. She went on to gain an MA in the history of photography from the University of Bologna in 2007, with a thesis on the history of
psychiatric photography.
Since 2005 Ghizzoni has committed herself to reportage and personal research projects, especially concerning the condition of women. In 2006 she was selected for
the Reflexions Master class, held by the photographer Giorgia Fiorio and the curator Gabriel Bauret. In the same year she tied for first prize at the FNAC photo contest,
with the work ‘Scars', an essay on Sarajevo ten years after the end of the war.
She won the 3rd prize single portrait at World Press Photo 2008 with an image part of her work “Odd Days”, a work on eating disorders.
Her self-portrait series “In Between” was exposed at Paris Photo 2008.
In 2009 her reportage “Ghosts” on landmines victims in Cambodia was awarded by
2nd prize Magazine Feature Pictures Story at POYI (Los Angeles).
In the same year the work “Odd Days” has been awarded with Photoespaña Ojodepez
Award for Human Values.
Ghizzoni was selected to be part of the 16th Joop Swart Masterclass.
The project Odd Days has been exhibited at the New York Photo Festival, May 2011, and at Photoespaña 2010.
Two projects by Simona Ghizzoni, "Lie in wait" (stories of Iraqi women in Jordan) and "My beauty is dead to you" have been pre-selected in the "reality" short films category at the Capodarco community prize 2011.
Ghizzoni is based in Rome and represented by Contrasto and Forma Gallery.
