Giulio Di Sturco
b. 1979, Roccasecca, Italy. Lives and works in Arles, France.
Giulio Di Sturco is an artist working across photography, film, and immersive installation. His long-term projects imagine how environmental and technological change will reshape society — work that extends the traditions of documentary photography into a poetics of the future, where reality and fiction blur. Using old and new media, he treats real places as material for speculative image-making, drawing on present conditions to construct futures still taking shape. Key series include Aerotropolis, Saltlands, Singularity, The Edge of Life, Ganga Ma, and The Archive of the Future that includes a three-screen film and 360° installation centered on neonatal intensive care.
His work is held in the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and Eurazeo, and has been shown at institutions and festivals including the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; Triennale Milano; The Sharjah Art Foundation; Fondazione Stelline, Milan; Bocconi Art Gallery, Milan; York Art Gallery; PHOTO Australia, Melbourne; Le Réservoir, Sète; Paris Photo; Photo London; Les Photaumnales; Getxophoto; Cortona On The Move; Bassano Fotografia; and the Festival Fotografico Europeo, alongside exhibitions and touring programmes tied to World Press Photo and the Sony World Photography Awards.
In 2019 he published his first monograph, Ganga Ma (GOST), with texts by Vandana Shiva and Eimear Martin — a long-term study of the Ganges as an ecological and cultural system under pressure, and the project that marked his turn toward slower, research-driven work.
He is the recipient of three World Press Photo awards, a Sony World Photography Award, the British Journal of Photography International Award, a Bibliothèque nationale de France grant, two Getty Images Grants, a Fujifilm GFX Challenge Grant, the Moscow Photo Awards, and the Kolga Photo Award. Aerotropolis was shortlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize and nominated for the Prix Pictet.
Di Sturco trained at the European Institute of Design in Rome and began his career in photojournalism, working with agencies including VII, Getty Reportage, and INSTITUTE, before turning to the long-term, project-based work that now defines his practice.
@Rob Becker
Selected Awards and Achievements
2022
Prix Pictet, Nominee
Prix Photo Eurazeo, Winner
Bibliothèque nationale de France Grant, Winner
Fujifilm GFX Challenge Grant, Winner
2019
Prix Pictet, Nominee
Aesthetica Art Prize
2018
Getty Images Grant, Grantee
World Press Photo Contest, Contemporary Issues, 2nd Prize, Singles
Photography Grant, Climate Category, 1st Prize
LensCulture Exposure Awards, 2nd Place, Series
PHmuseum Photography Grant, Honourable Mention
2017
Canon Europe Ambassador Programme, Selected
2016
Moscow Photo Awards, Environmental Story, 1st Prize
2015
World Press Photo, Contemporary Issues, 1st Prize, Stories
Sony World Photography Award, 3rd Prize, Landscape
2014
Kolga Photo Award, Documentary Category, Winner
Getty Images Grant, Grantee
2012
PX3 International Photography Award, Bronze Medal
2011
PX3 International Photography Award, Gold Medal
Sony World Photography Award, Current Affairs, Finalist
PDN 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch, Selected
2010
World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass, Selected
2009
Visa Pour l’Image, Jury Prize
World Press Photo, Arts & Entertainment, 1st Prize, Stories
British Journal of Photography International Photography Award, Single Image, Winner
Sony World Photography Award, 1st Prize, Contemporary Issues
VII Mentor Programme, Selected
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023
Aerotropolis, IMP Festival, Padua (IT)
Ganga Ma, Prix Photo Eurazeo, Hôtel de l’Industrie, Paris (FR)
Ganga Ma, Festival Fotografico Europeo, Legnano (IT)
2022
Ganga Ma, Bocconi Art Gallery, Università Bocconi, Milan (IT)
2021
Ganga Ma, Bassano Fotografia, Bassano del Grappa (IT)
Sophia, TODIMMAGINA Contemporary Photography Festival, Todi (IT)
2020
Ganga Ma, Fondazione Stelline, Milan (IT)
2019
Ganga Ma, Podbielski Contemporary, Milan (IT)
Ganga Ma, Photo London, Somerset House, London (UK)
2017
Aerotropolis, GETXOPHOTO Festival, Getxo (ES)
Personal Exhibition, IMAGIN’ART Festival, Roccasecca (IT)
2016
U T O P I A, Podbielski Contemporary (DE)
2015
Chollywood, Konfuzius-Institut Leipzig (DE)
2012
Fratello Fiume, Centro Culturale di Milano, Milan (IT)
Aerotropolis, Cortona On The Move, Cortona (IT)
Aerotropolis, FotoLeggendo, Rome (IT)
Somali Famine, LUMIX Festival for Young Photojournalism, Hannover (DE)
2011
3/11 Tsunami Photo Project, Open Mind Gallery, Milan (IT)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026
Nello spazio di un secolo. Rai Pubblicità, 100 anni di storia e oltre, Triennale Milano, Milan (IT)
Art Rotterdam / Unseen Photo, Podbielski Contemporary, Rotterdam (NL)
2025
Les Petites Madeleines, Podbielski Contemporary, Milan (IT)
2024
La France sous leurs yeux: 200 regards de photographes sur les années 2020, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (FR)
Uncanny Valley: Photography, Tech and the Hyperreal, PHOTO 2024, Melbourne (AU)
Liquid, Le Réservoir, Sète (FR)
2023
Prix Photo Eurazeo Laureates Exhibition, Galerie La Belle Étoile, Arles (FR)
2022
Flussgeschichten / River Stories, GAF – Galerie für Fotografie, Hannover (DE)
Oltre lo Sguardo, Podbielski Contemporary, Milan (IT)
2021
Paris Photo, Podbielski Contemporary, Grand Palais Éphémère, Paris (FR)
2020
Vantage Point Sharjah 8, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah (UAE)
Luis Valtueña International Humanitarian Photography Award – Historical Winners Exhibition, Calcografía Nacional, Madrid (ES)
Arte Fiera, Podbielski Contemporary, Bologna (IT)
2019
Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition, York Art Gallery, York (UK)
Terra Nostra – le temps de l’Anthropocène, Les Photaumnales, Beauvais (FR)
Forgotten Places, Belfast Photo Festival, Belfast (UK)
Athens Photo Festival – Photobook Exhibition, Benaki Museum, Athens (GR)
MIA Photo Fair, Podbielski Contemporary, Milan (IT)
2018
Futuro Presente, Milano Digital Week, BASE Milano, Milan (IT)
LensCulture Exposure Awards Exhibition, Photo London, London (UK)
World Press Photo Exhibition, various venues worldwide
2015
World Press Photo Exhibition, various venues worldwide
Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition, Somerset House, London (UK)
2013
Sanctuary/Sustenance: The Story of Many Journeys, Cathedral of St. John the Divine and international venues, New York (US)
2012
Right Before Your Eyes, United Nations Headquarters, New York (US)
2011
Horn of Africa, Multimedia Photography and Sound Installation, George Washington University, Washington, D.C. (US)
Vietato!, touring exhibition, Florence, Rome and Milan (IT)
Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition, Somerset House, London (UK)
2009
World Press Photo Exhibition, various venues worldwide
Sony World Photography Awards Winners Exhibition, Cannes (FR)
Selected Collections
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (FR)
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (IT)
Eurazeo Collection, Paris (FR)
Porsche Collection (DE)
Publications
2024
Loro Piana: Master of Fibres, Loro Piana
2019
Ganga Ma, GOST Books
Cashmere – The Origin of a Secret, Loro Piana