Martina Zaninelli, Young, 2025

Through tight, rhythmic sequences of words and images that capture our attention like a film, in Martina Zaninelli’s small but powerful book the story unfolds of a generation forced to go and look for a future outside Italy and the search for the reasons behind this choice. The innovative strength of the book is all in the interwoven narrative of contemporary photographs, stock images, ‘trouvées’ photos, phrases, written memories, slogans and faces that emerge from the past to give life to a sort of storyboard, with a narrative process that would have appealed to the scriptwriters of the Commedia all’Italiana, from Cecchi d’Amico to Maccari to Scola.

YOUNG won the Marco Bastianelli Award 2022 for the best selfpublished book.

It was shortlisted for:
Charta Dummy Award, 2021
Kassel Dummy Award, 2021
Giostre Edizioni Book Award, 2023
Prix du livre, Les Recontres de la Photographie Arles, Photo-text book, 2026

It’s part of The PhotoBookMuseum collection.