Roberto Boccaccino – Army Youth
Army Youth is part of a series of stories about a suspended generation.
Training at the Caserma “Cascino” in Palermo. 6° Reggimento Lancieri Aosta. Emanuele, 24.
Since I started working on this project, the most frequent question I was asked was: “What do you think? What is the impression of the army from the outside?”.
I was asked right by the young people I worked on. I first met them during their training in Sicily and later on in the UN mission in Lebanon, with the aim to know the approach, the life and the expectations of a twenty-years old Italian who chooses military life and mission abroad. After this experience my answer to that first question has always been about the gap, the distance between two worlds that rarely come in contact.And it is precisely within this distance that I tried to work. The distance between the imagery and the reality, between being considered an hero and becoming an adult, between leaving to the conflict and waiting to get back home.
I focused on youngsters – who I believe are always a good way to understand the present – discovering the choices, the desire of building their own simple and stable future, and the close analogies with the generation which they belong to.
6° Reggimento Bersaglieri Trapani. Caserma “Giannettino”. Michele, 28, mortar company.
He’s waiting for the shifting from temporary to permanent service in the army.
Caserma “Cascino” in Palermo. 6° Reggimento Lancieri Aosta. Gathering before leaving to the airport for the mission UNIFIL.
In the Military base of Maarake, Southern Lebanon. An office in the communication division.
In the Military base of Maarake, Southern Lebanon. Angela, 25, on duty at the infirmary.
UNIFIL Mission, Southern Lebanon. During a patrol. Maria, 25.
In the Military base of Maarake, Southern Lebanon. After the morning main gathering.
More images and other interesting projects on Roberto Boccaccino’s website. Roberto was previously featured on Oitzarisme with Doomsdays.
At 28 years old, Roberto is an independent photographer who keeps photographing his generation. His work has been featured by Italian and international magazines (among others: New York Times Lens, Foto8, GEO, Mare, GQ, Private Magazine, D/La Repubblica, Zoom, Afisha Mir, Euroman).
In the autumn 2009 attends the diploma course of Advanced Visual Storytelling at the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus. The diploma project is Ritdiena, where he tells the stories, the feelings and the future outlooks of the young generation living in the country with the gloomiest economic crisis in Europe.
Ritdiena receives the special mention “Internazionale” in the ATF Fnac Award 2010. For Internazionale realizes On the Side, a research about the Lebanese youth, which become part of his broader project about a generation.
His project Toy Town about the relationship between the Lego Company and the town of Billund, has been selected for the Lumix Young Photojournalism Festival 2010 and exhibited at the Brandts Museum of Odense, Denmark. In October 2010 takes part in the Eddie Adams Workshop XXIII in New York.
One of the pictures from his on-going project about the youth culture has been awarded at the Årets Pressfoto 2010 (Danish Press Photo), where he got the 1st prize for the best portrait of the year.