ROME, November 30, Rossiya Segodnya Press Service. Italian photographer Danilo Garcia Di Meo, who won the Grand Prix of the 2016 Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest, will have a solo exhibition in Rome before Christmas.
From December 6 to 11, 2016, the exhibition space of the International Women’s House in Rome (Casa Internazionale dellе Donne) will be home to an emotional series of photographs about Letizia Renis, a young quadriplegic who lives in Rome. These photographs, which have been shown in Moscow, Istanbul, Cape Town, Cairo, Shanghai and Beijing, tell of the incredible determination and a desire to live and to love of a girl whose only form of communication is a sensor at the back of her head and a computerized wheelchair with sensors in the headrest.
The exhibition opens at 6:30 pm on December 6 at Via della Lungara 19.
The story of Letizia shown by Danilo Garcia Di Meo is a story of love for the world, the people around you and yourself. In the face of incredible difficulties, Letizia tries to live a full life. She is a secretary at the local disability assistance center. She meets with friends and inspires them with her incredible will and zest for life. Letizia can communicate through a sensor at the back of her head and a computerized wheelchair with sensors in the headrest. With their help she learned how to use a computer and a smartphone to write messages and make video calls.
In November Letizia for the first time, has flown from Rome to Moscow to prove that the impossible is possible. Russians first learned about Letizia when her compatriot, Danilo Garcia Di Meo, was proclaimed the best young photographer at the 2016 Stenin contest organized by Rossiya Segodnya. Letizia didn’t think twice when she received an invitation to visit Russia. As soon as the doctors gave her the all-clear, she went to Moscow, where thousands of people have seen the series titled “Letizia, A Story of an Invisible Life”.
The Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest is held by Rossiya Segodnya under the patronage of the Russian Federation’s Commission for UNESCO. It aims to promote young photographers and attract public attention to photojournalism and its mission. It gives a chance to talented young photographers who are open to everything that is new and who attract our attention to people and events.
The 2016 contest was the largest ever since its establishment. The jury had to choose from among 6,000 entries by young photojournalists from 71 countries, including Russia. The contest covers five continents, stretching from Europe and North and South America to Africa, Australia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Russian participants come from all parts of the country – from Kaliningrad, Moscow and St. Petersburg in the west to Vladivostok in the Far East and Yalta in the south.
The 2016 contest is supported by major Russian and international media outlets, news agencies and photo societies. Its general information sponsors are: The Rossiya K TV Channel (Russia Culture), KP.ru, the news and information portal jourdom.ru portal and the Russian Photo portal. The contest's international information partners are: the Askanews news agency, EFE news agency, EBC, Notimex news agency, RT TV network and portal, The Royal Photographic Society, Shanghai United Media Group (SUMG), Xinhua news agency, Independent Media, ANTARA Foto press photo agency. The contest's professional information partners are: the Academy of Photography, the agency Geophoto.ru , the photography educational website photo-study.ru, the Moscow Union of Journalists, the Union of Student and Youth Media, the portal Young Journalists and the Uglich Photo Parade festival.