Location: BIAFRA

In 1968 Romano Cagnoni left Lisbon on a DC7 loaded with ammunition to go to Biafra with the intention of documenting a conflict at the time, as he himself stated: «little followed by newspapers because there were no strong political or economic interests». And it was because of his perseverance in recounting it that the public began to take an interest in the situation. 

The courage and refinement of the author are the essential elements of a narrative destined to enter in the history of the great international photojournalism, not only for the ability to document and make known to the world what was happening in this territory of Africa, but for having been able to make universal the stories he met along his path. Touching reports which were published by Life and other magazines around the world, earned him the prestigious Overseas Press Award. 

Tragic images of undernourished children, heartbreaking faces of desperate mothers and an iconic photo of 150 Igbo soldiers on the day of recruitment, photography that the editor of the Sunday Times, Harold Evans, called “a powerful image of war and sacrifice”. 

Photographer of conflicts and the human condition, he said with conviction that what must transpire in a photo are essentially human feelings in their immediate naturalness and contradiction. 

In this sense Cagnoni witnessed the war and spectator of the pain, which he reported with great sensitivity. 

ABOUT ROMANO CAGNONI

Romano Cagnoni (Pietrasanta, 1935-2018), is recognized as one of the most representative photographers of the 20th century. In the book Pictures on a Page, Harold Evans, editor of the Sunday Times, included him among the greatest authors in history. He moved to London in 1958 and met Simon Guttmann, Robert Capa’s mentor, with whom he developed an intense collaboration. He photographs Harold Wilson’s campaign, Winston Churchill’s funeral. 

He is the first independent Western photographer to be admitted to North Vietnam during the war, earning the cover of Life Magazine. He follows the conflict in Biafra obtaining the prestigious Overseas Press Award. Among the many reportages published in the most important magazines of the world: Allende’s Chile, Peron’s return to Argentina, the ex Yugoslavia, the Middle East. He has made 50 solo exhibitions and published 16 books.