Paolo Troilo
Italy
Born in Taranto, Paolo now lives and works in Milan and Palermo.
A self-taught artist, he first began drawing in pencil at the age of 4.
Paolo studied Architecture and Modern Literature at the University of Florence, then in Rome at the European Institute of Design.
He has worked as Creative Director for several prestigious international advertising agencies. In 2007 he was nominated best Italian creative by the Art Directors Club Italiano (ADCI).
In April 2005, in parallel with his advertising activity, Paolo’s career as a professional artist began when he started painting with his fingers for fun (he had forgotten to buy the brushes). It is thanks to his technique of dipping the tip of his fingers directly into jars of black and ivory acrylic that he became one of a kind in the art world.
Paolo’s works have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, in Milan, Rome, Florence, Madrid, Paris, Singapore, San Francisco, Istanbul, Tel Aviv and Los Angeles.
“Be Water, my friend” said Bruce Lee in his famous interview on the Pierre Berton Show. Because water can understand and therefore take whatever form it encounters, adapting itself with the power to caress or destroy
Roberto Ridi
Italy
Born on the Island of Elba
From an early age Roberto nurtured a love for professional photography. Moving from the magic of B/W to a passion for colour, he has lived through the transition of the curiosity of photographic film to the speed of digital photography, replacing the blackness of the dark room with a screen overflowing with creativity and colour.
A professional photographer since 1980, Roberto is a visual storyteller specialising in naturalistic reportage, ranging from aerial photography to underwater, from portraiture to landscape, always keeping a close and careful focus on Man and Nature’s designs.
Roberto is author of numerous international publications and responsible for setting up the Tuscan Archipelago National Park’s photographic archive
The sea is what water means to me, a magnificent liquid, the sky's mirror. I live on an island, embraced by this immense element, changing, unstoppable, capable of instilling serenity but commanding respect, both gentle and mighty. From the transparency of the surface to its dark depths, it is like the human soul
DAVIDE LOPRESTI
Italy
Born in Fezzano, a small town on the Italian Riviera.
Photography came into his life partly for fun and partly by chance and it was love from the very beginning.
Davide’s images are a way of communicating to others the beauty of our seas, a medium which gives everyone the opportunity to see, through his own eyes, what lies beneath the surface
Davide has collaborated with the most important international magazines in the diving industry, publishing travel articles and reviews on the latest equipment on the market
In 2016 he won the prestigious international award “Underwater Photographer of the Year”
My relationship with the element of water has always been very intense and linked to a profound sense of respect for the sea. I was born into a family of fishermen, people who have experienced the sea and who experience it in earnest. It taught me how to understand and interpret it. This passion, which causes me to stick my head under water whenever the occasion arises, I owe to my family. Quoting the words of José Luis Sampedro - we spend millions and millions looking for water on Mars and we do nothing in order to preserve it here, and to look for more for those who are thirsty. - I only hope we do not realise the importance of water when it is already too late
SALVO GALANO
Italy
Born in Milan, Salvo’s roots go back to the island of Ponza
Having had a passion for photography since childhood, Salvo he went on to obtain a master’s degree in photography from the Riccardo Bauer Institute in Milan
Salvo has lived and worked in London, New York and Milan, where he currently resides.
He has been correspondent and reporter for several Italian and international newspapers, worked for major brands in the field of advertising and published several books.
In 1998, based on his rainforest tribe project, he received a prestigious scholarship from the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York, enabling him to produce and publish Sidewalk Stories, a book inspired by the Homeless in New York.
His works have been exhibited in Milan, New York, Amsterdam, Paris, Belgrade and he has created two underwater exhibits “The South-east Passage” in Ponza and “StarS” (supported by the Italian Red Cross, UNHCR, Fondazione Progetto Arca, and Emergency), an underwater photographic itinery to celebrate integration, in Lampedusa.
Those who are born on islands or whose roots are on one, whether large or small, know that the sea and water in general, are ancestral elements which have a profound influence on existence. My island, a place ``governed`` by water has always been my starting point. I have lived in Milan, London, New York and continue to travel. But the urge to travel the world has always been there, and is contrary to what has always brought me home, as my attraction to water is so important
MASSIMILANO MORLOTTI
Italy
Born in Como
Massimilano graduated in photography at the Riccardo Bauer Institute in Milan
He has specialised in reportage style wedding photography for over twenty years. For many years he was a teacher at the most famous Italian Photographic Institutes and has shared his photographic language in various seminars in Italy and abroad, a language that has led Massimilano to photograph prestigious events in many different parts of the world over the years.
Massimilano has exhibited his photographic research at the Triennale di Milano and Biennale in Lisbon.
I was born in a lakeside town. For me, water is the most precious thing we have, because it is the basis of our existence, and for this reason we have a duty to safeguard it and to teach our children how to preserve it
