Alessandro Penso studied clinical psychology at Rome’s La Sapienza University. In 2007, he received a scholarship to study photojournalism at the Scuola Romana di Fotografia. Since completing his studies, he has won several awards. He is deeply committed to social issues and, in recent years, he has focused on the issue of immigration in the Mediterranean. During this time, he has produced work on detention centres in Malta, the situation of migrant workers in the agricultural sector in the south of Italy, and young people stuck in limbo in Greece. Motivated by the desire to raise awareness of situations of injustice at Europe’s margins, Penso intends to continue working on this issue in the months and years to come. Penso is also keenly aware that the difficult social and economic conditions in Mediterranean countries are providing an outlet for the phenomena of cultural closure, xenophobia and violence, which represent an insurmountable obstacle to migrants enjoying even the most basic human rights. In 2012, he witnessed a brutal attack on a group of migrants in Corinth, Greece, in which one young man, Mostafa, was hit by a car. This experience has further motivated Penso to continue his work on this issue and redouble efforts to raise awareness of and to help combat xenophobia and race-related violence.