Gaia Squarci
Women Photograph
Milan
Gaia Squarci is a photographer and cinematographer based in New York, contributor of Prospekt agency and Reuters. She studied Art History at University of Bologna and photojournalism at ICP, International Center of Photography. Gaia focuses on documentary issues, and her work leans toward a personal approach that moves away from the descriptive narrative tradition in documentary photography.
She attended the Eddie Adams Workshop in 2014, and in 2015 her installation Broken Screen has been selected for the exhibition reGeneration3 at Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne. POYi recognized her work as lead cinematographer for the the short documentary “Healing Bobby” with an award of excellence in 2014, and her photography project “My grandmother’s last months” won the same mention in 2017.
Her work appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, Time Magazine, Vogue, the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, ABC, VICE, The Guardian, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Huck, PDN, CBSnews, De Spiegel, Internazionale, Marie Claire Italia, Io Donna, Sette, Il Corriere della Sera, Panorama, among others. Her photos and videos have been exhibited in the United States, Italy, France, Switzerland, Mexico, UK and China.
2014 - Award of Excellence at POYi 2014
- Arts
- Audio capture
- Corporate
- Crisis
- Editorial
- Entertainment
- Events
- Fashion
- Interview
- Medical
- Portrait
- Reporting
- RISC training
- Video capture
- Video editing
Frozen Zoo
Gaia Squarci
How about bringing extinct species back to life? San Diego’s Frozen Zoo is where it starts. Since 1976, about 10,000 samples of 1000 species of animals and plants have piled in its facilities, frozen in liquid nitrogen, making the Zoo a pioneer of de-extinction projects around the world. While the successful return of a vanished creature is feasible, its reintroduction into the wild is not even an option yet, because nowadays’s science isn’t able to secure the process. Why revive extinct species then? To preserve biodiversity, or to undo the harm that human beings have caused in the past? To seek redemption? We raise these questions by traveling on site to interview Dr Ryder, Director of Genetics at the Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species at the SD Zoo, about this frozen Noah's Ark.
Mexico, Semana Santa
Gaia Squarci
Holy Week is the most widely celebrated and overtly theatrical religious observance in Mexico. Metropolises and small towns across country prepare for months for this event that blends the Christian culture absorbed during the colonial period with indigenous influences. When the time comes, participants and places are transfigured. Children turn into Roman soldiers, the actor selected to play Jesus trains for a whole year for this event, spectators are scared and inflamed at the same time by the the drama and realism of the scene.
Fire, fake blood and pulp violence coexist with vast amounts of flowers, bright pastel colors and the excitement of a feast. Iztapalapa and Tetela del Volcan host reenactments that are unique in their genre, and respectively represent the urban and rural declinations of Holy Week, an event that transcends religion to turn into collective catharsis.
