Paolo Marchetti (Italy)

FEVER 

The Awakening of European Fascism.

At the centre of the contemporary issues, what is really blowing oxygen to the flame of anger in our society, is undoubtedly represented by the ongoing economic crisis.  New policies imposed by dictatorial banking systems are forcing the individual into a corner. The perpetuation of wars is wretchedly camouflaged by religious pretext. Consequently they are awakening the old ideological flows dominated by closure towards our neighbour and racial intolerance toward the one who is perceived as an invader and not a resource.

We must remember that fear is a political instrument, fear camouflaged by values such as rescue or the fear of being invaded and the necessity of defending ourselves, fear as a precondition for manipulative policies, these are the considerations to be made before being infected by fever, before the philosophy based on the concept "every man for himself" will prevail.

In the era of globalization, tens of thousands of people all over Europe are screaming to the world "I exist". "I exist and I am not a product of your societies. I exist because I live my identity, unique and essential and I belong to a people, a religion, a race".

I’ve worked for more than five years, starting from 2009 till February of 2014, travelling in five different European countries, Italy, Spain, Germany, Finland and Hungary, outstanding places but where I’ve easily found the same feelings, the rage, and the fear that acts as an aerobic germ and it contaminates those who live alongside, exactly like the fever does. 

Paolo Marchetti 

Paolo Marchetti is a freelance photojournalist, based in Italy. Born in Rome 15th November 1974.

He has worked for thirteen years in the cinematographic and commercial industry. In his photography he pays particular attention to political and anthropological issues. He has covered stories in Brazil, Central America, Cuba, Eastern Europe, India, the United States, Haiti, China, Central Africa, Colombia and Thailand.

His work has been published in Italian magazines such as L'Espresso, Internazionale, Vanity Fair and Marie Claire and also in international magazines and newspapers such as 6MOIS, Days Japan, Sunday Times, British Journal of Photojournalism, The Guardian, Geo, Der Spiegel, Newsweek, CNN, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Time and many others.

Marchetti has received several awards including the International Photography Award, Grand Prix de Paris and he was short listed for the Luis Valtuena International Humanitarian Photography Award. He has also been awarded five times with the NPPA - Best of Photojournalism, five times with the PDN’s Award, the Sony WPO Award, the Getty Images Editorial Photography 2012, in 2013 he was finalist at the Leica Oskar Barnack Award and between the 2013 and 2014 he has been recognized with four awards at the POY - Picture of the Year, two of which in the prestigious category "Photographer of the Year". Other awards are the American Photography Annual Book, the ANI Pix-Palace 2013 in Perpignan, the Leica Photographer Award 2013, the SDN - Social Documentary Network, the Alexia Foundation Grant and the World Press Photo in "Nature" category.

His long-term project, on which he has been working for five years covering five different countries, focuses on fascism and the awakening far-right in Europe and is titled "FEVER".

Marchetti is currently represented by Reportage by Getty Images.