Gomma Photography Grant 2023
TOSKA - the untranslatable non-Western
Photographer
Andrea Bettancini
TOSKA - the untranslatable non-Western
23 Feb, 2024
This portfolio is the result of a series of photographs taken in Ukraine (between Kiev and Lviv). It represents the everyday life that is no longer there. The poetic transposition into images of a word common to Russianspeaking peoples, 'wonderfully' untranslatable. A word that, in its melancholic meaning, once united two peoples.
About the photographer
Andrea Bettancini
All my education was focused on creativity, starting with art school, and then I pursued the fashion department at IED in Milan. I worked as a designer in Milan for various clothing brands and collaborated with an architecture magazine of the Mondadori group. Photography has always been a passion of mine, ever since the days of analog photography with nights spent in the darkroom among the basins of acids. I have a preference for reportage, street photography, and photographic storytelling in general, exploring the fusion and contamination of images to develop a non-analytical visual language. My achievements include being a finalist in the Sony Awards 2022 professional documentary section, winning the ND Awards 2022 in the long exposures category, and being a finalist in the Urban Photo Awards 2022/2023 (portfolio) and the World Water Day competitions in 2019 and 2022. I was also the winner of the All About Photo The Mind’s Eye 2023 and a finalist in the Gomma Black & White Awards 2023, with the final results still pending. Furthermore, I have been recognized as the best author at the main Italian FIAF competitions, including Follonica, Golden chip, Cameri, Murlo, and Brugine.
