Artist's statement:
Antonello Ferrara was born in Taranto into a family of sailors and painters. At the age of 10 he was given an AgfaPocket camera. To save money, he learnt to print himself, but the high cost of photography forced him to give up. At the age of 16, he joined the navy and started travelling the world. In 1992 he was sent to work in Augusta, an important naval base and chemical centre in the Mediterranean. In 2010, after several years of involvement in Catholic Action, Libera and Legambiente, he was the project director of the book 'Custodi della nostra Terra' (Guardians of our Earth), Akàdemos Editions, produced with the Movimento Lavoratori dell'Azione Cattolica (Catholic Action Workers Movement). From 2010 to 2014 Director of the Observatory for Poverty and Resources of the Caritas Diocese of Syracuse and Director of the School for Volunteers. In 2014 he was called to the Press Office in Rome to join the working group on the analysis and communication strategies of the Navy. In the meantime, he reconnected with photography and studied at the Centro di Fotografia Sperimentale 'Ansel Adamas' and at the Scuola Romana di Fotografia. In the summer of 2018, he attended the fashion photography course at the Kaverdash Institute in Milan. In 2020 he participated in the annual phototherapy course of the Net.fot association, directed by Antonello Turchetti. Since then he has regularly attended workshops and courses with various teachers, including Letizia Battaglia and Alex Majoli of Magnum.
