About me

Alessandro Cinque (b. 1988) is a Italian photojournalist based between Colombia and Peru, whose work explores environmental and socio-political issues in Latin America, particularly the devastating impact of mining on Indigenous communities and their lands. Through his work, Cinque documents environmental contamination and public health concerns among Indigenous communities living in South America and has committed to photographing the effects of the pollution that permeates the crops, livestock, and homes of the people residing near mining sites.

Cinque’s photographs have been published in international media including The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Reuters, GEO, Bloomberg, etc.

His work has been exhibited in 79 solo and group shows across 27 countries worldwide and recognized as a finalist or winner by international awards, including World Press Photo, Prix Pictet, Eugene Smith, POYi, Leica Oskar Barnack, Alexia Grant, Vital Impact, BarTur Photo Award, etc.

In 2019, Cinque moved to Latin America exclusively to continue to deepen his work on mining and began contributing to Reuters.

He is a recipient of the National Geographic Society Grant (2022) and the Pulitzer Center Grant (2021/2024). In 2022, his work was published on the Cover of National Geographic and he became a National Geographic Explorer.

In 2023, he won the World Press Photo and the Sustainability Award at the Sony World Photography Awards and was a finalist in the Prix Pictet.

In 2024, he won the Vital Impacts Grant founded by Ami Vitale.

 Complete CV

Below you will find a curated selection of my work, presented year by year and across categories:

Awards, Solo Exhibitions, Group Exhibitions, Lectures & Teaching, Publications, Interviews, Collective Books, Film and Documentary, and Jury Member.

This structure highlights key milestones and contributions throughout my career as a photojournalist and visual storyteller.

Awards

• 2025 Award of Excellence – POYi 82

• 2025 Finalist – BarTur and COTM

• 2024 Winner – Vital Impacts Grant

• 2023 Winner – World Press Photo

• 2023 Finalist - Prix Pictet, Human

• 2023 Winner – Prix Photo Terre Solidaire

• 2023 Winner – BarTur Award, Climate Change

• 2023 Winner – Premio Ponchielli

• 2023 Winner – Sony World Photography Awards, Sustainability Award

• 2023 Winner – Festival Fotografia Etica di Lodi, Short Story Award

• 2023 Finalist – POY Latam, Photographer of the Year

• 2023 Finalist – POY Latam, Long Term Project

• 2023 Shortlisted – Sony World Photography Awards, Creative

• 2022 Finalist – Premio Ponchielli

• 2022 Winner – National Geographic Society Explorer Level I

• 2022 Finalist – Leica Oskar Barnack Award

• 2022 Winner – Stenin Contest

• 2022 Second Place – NPPA, Feature Story

• 2022 Second Place – NPPA, Science Story

• 2021 Finalist – Luis Valtueña Award

• 2021 Finalist – Premio Ponchielli

• 2021 Shortlisted – Festival Fotografia Etica di Lodi, Master Report Award

• 2021 Winner – Pulitzer Center Grant

• 2021 Winner – National Geographic Society Emergency Fund for Journalists (Covid-19)

• 2021 Selected – New York Portfolio Review

• 2020 Finalist – Premio Ponchielli

• 2020 Finalist – Festival Fotografia Etica di Lodi, World Report Award

• 2020 Winner – Focus on the Story Grant

• 2020 Third Place – Stenin Contest

• 2019 Finalist – Alexia Foundation

• 2019 Finalist – Eugene Smith Grant

• 2019 Winner – Closer Award

• 2019 Winner – POYi 76

• 2018 Finalist – Premio Voglino, Italian Collection

• 2018 Finalist – Festival Fotografia Etica di Lodi, Short Story Award

• 2018 Finalist – Festival Fotografia Etica di Lodi, Single Shot Award and Short Story Award

• 2018 Award of Excellence – POYi 75

• 2018 First Place – FIOF Italy International Photo Award

• 2018 Bronze – MIFA Award

• 2017 Honorable Mention – MIFA Award

• 2017 Honorable Mention – Monochrome Award

Solo Exhibitions

• 2025 Forests Seen from Space – Echoes of the Vaia Storm (ESA and Leica Camera), Leica Galerie Milano, Milan, Italy.

• 2025 CCFD – Terres Souillées, Corps Blessés, Cosmopolis, Nantes, France.

• 2025 CCFD – Terres Souillées, Corps Blessés. La Fontaine Obscure, Aix-en-Provence, France.

• 2025 Baden Photo Festival – Soiled Earth, Damaged Bodies. Mining Takes Power in the Andean Countries, Doblhoffpark – Eulenwiese, Baden, Austria.

• 2024 La Gacilly – Mining Takes Power in the Andean Countries, Labyrinthe Végétal, La Gacilly, France.

• 2024 Radar Photo Festival, Alpaqueros, Ex Monastero di Santa Maria di Colonna, Trani, Italy.

• 2024 Cortona on the Move – Fog Nets, Palazzo Baldelli, Cortona, Italy.

• 2024 Rivivere, Raccontare e Immaginare, Biella, Italy.

• 2023 Festival della Fotografia Etica – Alpaqueros, Palazzo Barni, Lodi, Italy.

• 2023 PhEST – International Festival of Photography and Art, Stalle di Casa Santa, Monopoli, Italy.

• 2023 Sony World Photography Awards – Fog Nets, Somerset House, London, UK.

• 2023 WeWorld Festival – El Precio de la Tierra, curated by Manila Camarini, Base Milano, Milan, Italy.

• 2022 Cortona on the Move – Ser y Aparecer, Palazzo Baldelli, Cortona, Italy.

• 2022 Photoville – Alpaqueros, Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York City, USA.

• 2022 Congreso Nacional – Plataforma Nacional de Afectados y Afectadas por Metales Pesados – El Precio de la Tierra, Av. Brasil 1130, Lima, Peru.

• 2021 Riaperture – Chile Despertó, Palazzo Massari – Porta Mare Ariostea, Ferrara, Italy.

Group Exhibitions

• 2025 PhotoEspaña – Tamara Kreisler Gallery, Madrid, Spain

• 2025 La Mirada Esencial: 100 años de Leica y su conexión con Latinoamérica, Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico

• 2025 RSF's 40th Anniversary Celebrations – Paris, Grilles de la Tour Saint-Jacques, Paris, France

• 2025 RSF's 40th Anniversary Celebrations – Gothenburg Book Fair, Gothenburg, Sweden

• 2025 RSF's 40th Anniversary Celebrations – Columbia University, New York, USA

• 2025 RSF's 40th Anniversary Celebrations – Institut Français, Dakar, Senegal

• 2025 RSF's 40th Anniversary Celebrations – Gabo Festival, Bogotá, Colombia

• 2025 RSF's 40th Anniversary Celebrations – International Festival of Journalism, Couthures, France

• 2025 RSF's 40th Anniversary Celebrations – Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France

• 2025 RSF's 40th Anniversary Celebrations – Hangar Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

• 2025 RSF's 40th Anniversary Celebrations – True Story Festival, Bern, Switzerland

• 2025 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Palazzo della Gran Guardia, Verona, Italy

• 2025 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Fotografiska, Shanghai, China

• 2025 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Photo Museum, Dublin, Ireland

• 2025 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Bangkok Art & Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand

• 2024 National Geographic - Centro Cultural Ccori Wasi, Lima, Peru

• 2024 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Cercle Cité, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

• 2024 Prix Pictet Human Tour– Museum of Photographic Art, San Diego, USA

• 2024 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany

• 2024 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden

• 2024 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Arter, Istanbul, Turkey

• 2024 Prix Pictet Human Tour – KWM Art Center, Beijing, China

• 2024 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Luma Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland

• 2024 Prix Pictet Human Tour – School of the Arts, Singapore

• 2024 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Red Cross Museum, Geneva, Switzerland

• 2024 Calamuchita Foto Doc - Cordoba, Argentina

• 2023 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (TOP), Tokyo, Japan

• 2023 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Central Bank of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas

• 2023 Prix Pictet Human Tour– Tern Gallery, Nassau, Bahamas

• 2023 Prix Pictet Human Tour – Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK

• 2023 Les Rencontres d’Arles – Screening, Arles, France

• 2023 Sony World Photography Awards – Traveling Exhibition, MAC Lima, Lima, Peru

• 2023 Sony World Photography Awards – Traveling Exhibition, Willy Brandt Haus, Berlin, Germany

• 2023 Sony World Photography Awards – Traveling Exhibition, Diocesan Museum, Milan, Italy

• 2023 Sony World Photography Awards – Traveling Exhibition, Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

• 2023 Sony World Photography Awards – Traveling Exhibition, Sony Imaging Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

• 2023 Sony World Photography Awards – Traveling Exhibition, Fotofestival Lenzburg, Lenzburg, Switzerland

• 2023 Sony World Photography Awards – Traveling Exhibition, Sony Imaging Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

• 2023 World Press Photo Tour - 85 Exhibitions in 83 Cities in 38 Countries

• 2023 World Press Photo – De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, Netherlands

• 2023 Magnum Photos & World Press Photo – Square Print Sale Written by Light, Amsterdam, Netherlands

• 2023 Time Gravity – Chengdu Biennale, Tianfu Art Museum, Chengdu, China

• 2023 El Hilo que Une, Leica Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico

• 2022 Leica Oskar Barnack, Ernst Leitz Museum, Wetzlar, Germany

• 2022 Premio Luis Valtueña, Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain

• 2022 Scavando si Impara – La Lezione Peruviana, Lab 27, Treviso, Italy

• 2021 BCN-DH Festival Internacional de Fotografía de Barcelona, Casal Mas Guinardó, Barcelona, Spain

• 2021 COP26, SEC Centre, Glasgow, UK

• 2021 Anticorpi, Italy

• 2021 Stenin Contest – Casa de Cantabria, Madrid, Spain

• 2020 Visa pour l’Image – Screening, Perpignan, France

• 2019 Closer, QR Photogallery, Bologna, Italy

• 2018 Mestieri in Posa – Milano Photo Week, Leica Gallery, Milan, Italy

Lectures & Teaching

• 2025 – Lecture – Art for Tomorrow – Triennale Milano, Milan - Italy

• 2024 – Lecture – Il Grin e il Premio Ponchielli. 20 Years of Commitment to Photography – Teatro Signorelli, Cortona – Italy

• 2024 – Lecture – Racconti di Luce – Rotonda a Mare, Senigallia – Italy

• 2024 – Lecture – ANFM – CineTeatro Comunale Gerardo Guerrieri, Matera – Italy

• 2024 – Lecture – Stories from South America – Biblioteca delle Oblate – Italy

• 2023 – Lecture – Terre di Tutti Film Festival – Cinema Lumière, Bologna – Italy

• 2023 – Lecture – Photolux and Pianeta Terra Festival – Orto Botanico, Lucca – Italy

• 2023 – Lecture – Ulilearn – The First Story

• 2023 – Lecture – Photography at the Cinema – Piazza Maggiore, Bologna – Italy

• 2023 – Lecture – Festival del Reportage – Museo dell’Arte Ceramica, Ascoli Piceno – Italy

• 2022 – Lecture – Alpaqueros – Circolo Fotografico Modotti, Bolzano – Italy

• 2022 – Lecture – Berkley Center at Georgetown University – Washington, D.C. – YouTube

• 2022 – Lecture – Interconnected – Reporting the Climate Crisis – National Press Club, Washington D.C. - USA

• 2022 – Lecture – Incontri di Fotografia – Lab27

• 2021 – Lecture – Dialogo en Foco – Gobierno Regional Callao, Lima – Peru

• 2021 – Lecture – Revelado Festival – AFPP Lima – Peru

• 2021 – Lecture – Riaperture – Factory Grisù, Ferrara – Italy

• 2021 – Lecture – Photographic Dispatches – with Alberto Prina – Italy

• 2021 – Workshop – FAC.PE – Lima, Peru

• 2019 – Lecture – Resilienze Festival – Radical Gazes – Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita, Bologna – Italy

• 2019 – Workshop – Photography Today – M9 Museo del ‘900, Venice – Italy

• 2019 – Workshop – The Basics of Reportage – Leica Milano – Italy

• 2019 – Workshop – The Basics of Reportage – Leica Roma – Italy

• 2018 – Workshop – The Basics of Reportage – Leica Milano – Italy

• 2018 – Lecture – Egadi Islands Photography Workshop – Marettimo – Italy

• 2018 – Lecture – Insights on the Work of Alessandro Cinque – Livorno – Italy

• 2017 – Lecture – The Importance of Storytelling and the Power of Images to Overcome Linguistic Borders – Amphitheater, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj – Iran

• 2017 – Lecture – FotoClub Il Bacchino – Prato, Tuscany – Italy

Publications

• 2025 Schwarzweiss - Interview Alessandro Cinque

• 2025 Bloomberg - Murder on Rainbow Mountain

• 2025 Bloomberg - Contentious Copper Boom Sparks Existential Mining Crisis in Peru

• 2025 Stern - Blaubeeren aus Peru: Ein Milliardengeschäft mit Licht und Schatten

• 2025 GEO Germany - Blaubeeren aus Peru – Milliardengeschäft mit Schattenseiten

• 2025 GEO France - Myrtilles du Pérou: les dessous amers du fruit star de nos supermarchés

• 2024 National Geographic - Come il deserto peruviano è diventato l'improbabile capitale mondiale dei mirtilli

• 2024 National Geographic - How the Peruvian desert became the unlikely blueberry capital of the world

• 2024 Kol Social - Interview Alessandro Cinque

• 2024 LFI - Cover Alpaqueros

• 2024 Spiegel - Wie Menschen in der Wüstenstadt Lima Wasser aus der Luft fangen

• 2023 Stern - Sie hüten den Schatz der Anden

• 2023 National Geographic - Year in Pictures

• 2023 The Guardian - Hanging by a thread: Peruvian alpaca breeders’ way of life under threat

• 2023 Reuters - Amazon rainforest gold mining is poisoning scores of threatened species

• 2023 Ojo Publico - La milionaria ruta de la alpaca

• 2023 RAI News - Sony World Photography Awards - Winning Photos

• 2023 National Geographic - Perú: Atrapan niebla para tener agua y hacerle frente a la sequía

• 2023 National Geographic - The delicate art of catching fog in the desert

• 2023 Internazionale - Pericoli a Cielo aperto

• 2023 Internazionale - La resistenza degli Alpaca

• 2022 The Wall Street Journal - Middlemen Snag Carbon-Credit Cash Aimed at Peruvian Amazon

• 2022 Pulitzer Center - A Year in Photo

• 2022 Espresso - La rapina delle miniere del Peru: dovevano portare sviluppo, stanno avvelenando una comunità

• 2022 Marie Claire - Alpaca nel Giornale

• 2022 Stern - Ein Bauer aus Peru zieht RWE vor Gericht – und könnte die Welt verändern

• 2022 6Mois - Les Veines ouvertes de la sierra

• 2022 Reporter Without Border - Fotos für die Pressefreiheit 2022

• 2022 Reuters - Global energy crunch stirs hope of oil reboot in Peru's Amazon

• 2022 Burn Magazine - El Precio de la Tierra

• 2022 Espresso - Meno Foreste, più monocolture. La Palma da olio devasta l’ambiente e la vita dei contadini

• 2022 National Geographic - Photos show the first 2 years of a world transformed by COVID-19

• 2022 National Geographic - Perú: la misión de salvar a las alpacas de los cambios climáticos en el altiplano

• 2022 National Geographic - The high-altitude quest to save alpacas

• 2021 National Geographic - Year in Pictures

• 2021 Outside Magazine - The World’s Most Dangerous Mountains

• 2021 Internazionale - Sguardi verso il futuro

• 2021 Reuters - In Peru's Andes, Shining Path leader's death stirs buried memories of terror

• 2021 Reuters - Left behind in modern Peru, rural poor find a voice ahead of election

• 2021 Reuters - A Peruvian family's COVID nightmare

• 2021 LFI - El Precio de la Tierra

• 2020 Marie Claire - Questa non sarà la fine del liscio, reportage dalle balere romagnole

• 2020 Marie Claire - Firenze come non la rivedremo mai più

• 2020 Marie Claire - La rivoluzione o sarà femminista o non sarà

• 2020 Marie Claire - New York, una solitudine troppo rumorosa: le foto della città svuotata

• 2020 Espresso - Quelle miniere in Perù che riducono in polvere anche le vite dei contadini

• 2019 Marie Claire - Cosa resta di 50 giorni di proteste a Santiago del Cile?

• 2019 Marie Claire - Viaggio al centro della terra, in Perù dove da un pozzo di oro nero è nata la spa del popolo

• 2019 Marie Claire - Entrare nel culto della Santeria in una Brooklyn di neve, fast food e lavanderie a gettoni

• 2019 The New York Times - Italian American

• 2019 Marie Claire - Le albe e i tramonti nel Senegal della confraternita dei Layene

• 2019 Marie Claire - Le Donne Chin e quel tatuaggio faciale ultimo retaggio di una bellezza che non esiste più

• 2018 Marie Claire - La via dei Kolbar, storie di contrabbando al confine tra Iran e Iraq

• 2018 Africa - L’islam liberale dei Layene

• 2018 Africa - Il senegal ha la febbre dell’oro

Interviews

• 2025 Rai News – Mappamondi – La geopolitica del Perù (Giammarco Sicuro)

• 2025 YouTube – Entretien avec le photographe Alessandro Cinque (Spanish, French subtitles)

• 2024 FranzMagazine – La geografia dell’anima

• 2024 Andromak Blog – Capturing the Soul of the Unseen World

• 2024 VIST – El precio de la tierra | Comunidades y Minería en los Andes

• 2023 Polka – Alessandro Cinque, lauréat du Grand Prix Photo Terre Solidaire (Dimitri Beck)

• 2023 La Repubblica – Sony World Photography Awards, il fotografo italiano degli "acchiappanuvole" premiato per la sostenibilità (Andrea Nepori)

• 2023 Corriere della Sera – «Catturare l’acqua dalle nuvole in Perù»: il progetto fotografico di Alessandro Cinque premiato ai Sony World Photography Awards (Silvia Morosi)

• 2023 Fotografi Digitali – SWPA 2023: il premio Sustainability Prize va all'italiano Alessandro Cinque (Roberto Colombo)

• 2023 RAI News – Sony World Photography Awards – Le foto vincitrici

• 2023 RAI Tre – Kilimangiaro (Camila Raznovich)

• 2023 Lampoon Magazine – World Press Photo 2023 – Fotografia Alpaqueros

• 2023 VIST – World Press Photo Sudamérica 2023 | charla con lxs ganadorxs

• 2023 La Repubblica – Dalla parte degli alpaca: il vincitore del World Press al festival di fotografia etica di Lodi (Lucio Luca)

• 2023 AFPP – Premio World Press Photo 2023: «Nuestro gran reto como fotógrafos es que se hable del Perú»
  

• 2023 Art Tribune – Alessandro Cinque, il fotografo documentarista che ci racconta il Sudamerica (Angela Madesani)

• 2022 Incontri di Fotografia – Lab 27

• 2022 Burn Magazine – Peru: A Toxic State (Alejandra Martínez Moreno)

• 2022 Art Tribune – Quanto conta l’apparenza nella fotografia. Intervista ad Alessandro Cinque (Manuela De Leonardis)

• 2022 Discorsi Fotografici – Podcast

• 2022 La Repubblica – Fotografia (Michele Smargiassi)

• 2021 LFI – Miniere – Peru: A Toxic State

• 2020 TVPeru – TVPeru (Carolina Salvatore)

• 2020 Aspiranti Fotografi – Convivium (Micheal Bertolasi)

• 2020 Dispacci di Fotografia – Festival di Fotografia Etica

• 2020 Sky TG24 – Lo spunto fotografico (Chiara Piotto)

• 2020 Marie Claire – Intervista: “Come si fa a diventare fotografi”

• 2020 Rai Radio – Peru: A Toxic State

• 2020 Corriere della Sera – La Lettura (Patrizia Varone)

• 2019 Photolux – Espinar, terra spezzata (Dario Orlandi)

• 2019 Corriere dell’Umbria – Alessandro Cinque, un premio alla passione per il fotogiornalismo (Damiano Greco)

• 2018 TG3 – Dove siamo nel Mondo (Maria Cuffaro)

• 2017 Lomography – Alessandro Cinque: in Cuba with the Minitar-1 Art Lens

• 2017 LFI – Life in the Sacred Valley