Francesco Bellina (Trapani, 1989) is a photographer based in Palermo. His artistic work focuses mainly on contemporary socio-political issues with a particular focus on the topics of migration and climate issues. He attended the Law faculty in Palermo and simultaneously dedicated himself to photography.
His works have been published on major international media such as The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Globe and Mail, Paris Match, Le Monde, Internazionale, L’Espresso, The Washington Post, among others. He often works with NGOs and is a contributor to UNHCR, WHO, and others. In 2016 and 2017 he was nominated for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass.
In 2018 his work “Nigerian Connection” has been featured in the “Palermo Atlas” by the European nomadic biennal Manifesta12 and OMA. In the same year, his work “Tanakra” (2018), that depicts the human traffic between Niger and Libia, has been exhibited at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, and presented as a socio-political study in lectures at the University of San Diego, California, Spring Hill College and others. In 2019 he has been invited for presentation at the World Press Photo exhibition in Bari, Torino and Palermo (Italy) about “On a Gagné” (2019), a serie of pictures taken on board of the ship “Mare Jonio” during a rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2020 he finished the long-term project ‘Oriri’ (2016-2020), that follows the interlace of sex trafficking and voodoo rituals in Benin, Niger, Ghana, Nigeria and Sicily. The project was exhibited in Palermo in 2021 and came out in the form of an editorial work in late 2022. In 2021 his ongoing project “Pray for Seamen”, curated by Izabela Anne Moren, won the 10th Edition of the Italian Council fund, promoted by the Italian Minister of Culture. In 2022, the work commissioned by WHO to document the organization’s activities in Palermo, Lesvos and Sarajevo was exhibited at the organization’s annual meeting in Istanbul. In 2023 his exhibition “Oriri” was exhibited at the European Parliament in Brussels.In 2023 his second editorial work , “Pray for Seamen”, was published and the project is currently on display in Palermo at Ecomuseo Mare Memoria Viva.
