Monteleone is an Italian photographer born in 1974. He studied engineering but gave up on it and decided to study photography and journalism. He traveled to the United States and then to the United Kingdom to study those subjects. He started his career in 2000, working with Italian and international magazines. At the end of 2001 he moved to Moscow, where he stayed till 2003. Since then he has traveled back and forth between Italy and Russia, continuing his editorial work.
In 2007 Monteleone published his first book, Dusha (in English, Soul) and two years later published a second one, La Linea Inesistente. In 2012 he published a book titled Red Thistle, winner of, among other prizes, the European Publishers Award for Photography, the Aftermath Grant, and the Burn Emergency Photographer Grant.
In 2013 Monteleone was interviewed by Vogue. and appeared in the series of 12 episode of "Fotografi" for Sky Arte.
Monteleone has won numerous prizes, including three World Press Photo awards in 2007, 2009, and 2011. In 2013, with the support of Fondation Carmignac, he published the book Spasibo, of work he had produced in Chechnya.
Prizes and awards
2005 Prize Amilcare Ponchielli “C’era una volta CCCP” 2nd prize at the Amilcare Ponchielli Milano
2006 World Press Photo Israeli bombing in Lebanon – 1° Prize Spot news stories
2007 TAF (Toscana Arti Fotografiche) prize, Lucca Digital Photo Fest, Lucca, for “Dusha – Russian Soul”
2008 IPA Award 2008 2nd place best book Dusha; 1st place general news editorial “Pakistan Turning Point”
2008 FotoGrafia-Book Award Best book at FotoGrafia Festival in Rome
2008 Premio Marco Bastianelli, for Dusha
2008 PDN Photo annual award Magazine Editorial Categories for Internazionale
2008 World Press Photo Abkhazia – 1° Prize General news stories
2009 Finalist for Aftermath Project grant, for “Fringe of Empire”
2009 Leica Oskar Barnack Award finalist “Russian Caucasus”
2010 Lumix Freelens Award Winner Freelens award “Northern Caucasus”
2010 Emerging Photographer Grant 2010 winner, Burn magazine, for “Northern Caucasus”
2010 Sony World Photography Awards: Professional Contemporary Issues Category, 2nd prize: "The Republic of Dagestan"
2011 Aftermath Project Grant Winner with “Red Thistle, The Northern Caucasus Journey”
2011 European Publishers Award for Photography “Red Thistle”
2011 Follow your convictions grant “Reversed See” – Maurice Lacroix – World Press Photo foundation
2011 World Press Photo Milan Fashion Week – 2nd Prize Art single
2012 EPEA 01 grant “Harragas”
2012 Awakening World Award, Tehran art project, Iran “Reversed see series”: Photography section, best artist works
2013 Fondation Carmignac Photojournalism Award Spasibo
2013 POYi Feature Multimedia Story, second place, for "Nordic Odyssey: A Month at Sea". With Myles Kane, Kristina Budelis, Elissa Curtis, and The New Yorker
Books
Душа (Dusha) = Anima russa. Rome: Edizioni Postcart, 2007. ISBN 8886795335. With text by Viktor Erofeev and Margherita Belgiojoso.
La linea inesistente: Viaggio lungo la ex cortina di ferro. Rome: Contrasto, 2009. ISBN 8869652378.
Holler – Enel Contemporanea – H+, 2012.
Red Thistle, 2012.
Rote Distel. Heidelberg: Kehrer. ISBN 3868282947.
Red Thistle. Stockport: Dewi Lewis. ISBN 1-907893-16-4.
Chardon rouge. Arles: Actes Sud. ISBN 2-330-00210-6.
Cardo rosso. Rome: Peliti. ISBN 88-89412-53-4.
Спасибо (Spasibo) = Spasibo. Heidelberg: Kehrer, 2013. ISBN 3868284664. With text in French and English by Galia Ackerman and Masha Gessen.
Solo exhibitions
“Dusha”. Lucca Foto Festival, Lucca, IT, 2007. Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, FR; B gallery, Rome, 2008. Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome; Micamera, Milan, 2009. Casa studio Morandi, Modena, IT, 2013.
“La Linea Inesistente”. Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, 2009. Ortygia, Siracuse, IT, 2010.
“Ombre di Guerra”. Rotonda della Besana, Milan, 2009. Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris, 2011.
“Red Thistle”. Castello Estense, Ferrara, IT “Festival giornalismo di Internazionale”; Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Rovereto, IT; Lumix Festival, Hannover, 2010. Rencontres d'Arles, New York; VII Gallery, New York; Petite Noire Gallery, Paris; Freelens gallery, Hamburg, 2012. Bursa Festival, Bursa, TR; Officine Fotografiche, Rome; Micamera, Milan, 2013.
“Harragas” – European photography Award. House of Photography, Hamburg, 2012. Nobel prize Center, Oslo, 2013.
“Spasibo”. Chapelle de l'école de beaux arts, 2013. Saatchi Gallery, London; Frankfurt Photo Forum, Frankfurt; Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, FR; Museo Messina, Milan, 2014.
