Wish It Was A Coming Out

• Prize
  Bronze in Editorial/Photo Essay, Silver in People/Family
• Photographer
  Melissa Ianniello
• Photo Date
  2018-2019

Wish it Was a Coming Out is an ongoing long-term project with which I wish to explore the double taboo represented by the link between homosexuality and old age in Italy, starting from my lesbianism. I began exploring the life experiences of a group of gays and lesbians between sixty and ninety years old. I photographed these people as couples or alone, in their own homes, in scenes of true intimacy. In this way, I am trying to provide insight into the lives of gay and lesbian people in Italy today who experience that contradictory and fascinating phase of life linked to ageing.

Melissa Ianniello (Naples, 1991) is a documentary photographer based in Bologna, Italy. After graduating in Philosophy, she pursued her photography training, which was mostly self-taught, through periods of study in Bologna and New York, with photographers such as Michael Ackerman, Erica McDonald, Carolyn Drake and Davide Monteleone. Her artistic research is based on two main subjects: the role of the individual in the modern-day metropolis, and themes related to gender and sexuality. Her photographs have been featured on several magazines and her work has been awarded in Italy and abroad.