Matteo Perini
Born in the Casentino valley near Forlì and now based in Bologna, I work as a photographer and videomaker.
For over 15 years I have worked with the Foreste Casentinesi National Park, turning scientific research and public outreach into a continuous visual account.
My independent professional life takes shape in 2008, when I founded Studio TamTam and started working in the fast-moving world of sporting events. In 2012 the pace changed: I moved towards music photography and the performing arts, building a lasting collaboration with the agency Sottopalco and passing that passion on through teaching in dedicated workshops.
The need to document more intimate and complex stories led me to the social reportage workshops of Giulio Di Meo, Enrico Genovesi and Alessandro Gandolfi. That growing interest soon became a vocation, which took me to work alongside several associations and to publish in international outlets, among them Witness Journal, Nigrizia, Misna, Il Reportage, Opzij Magazine e Meer.
In 2014 came the reportage "Celestial Voodoo", a project shown at major exhibitions — from the Bibbiena Fotoconfronti Festival to Savignano Si-Fest and Terra di Tutti in Bologna — and awarded at the Humanity Photo Awards (organised by CFPA/UNESCO).
It was a period of strong human connection: through the project "Maison des rêves – La casa dei sogni", I gave direct support to the "Maison de la Joie" family home in Ouidah, Benin. In the same years I was part of the "Sovraesposti" association in Forlì and co-directed the documentary 'E dashurojnë me zemer – Because they love her with all their heart', a narrative immersion filmed across Kosovo and Albania.
The following year, 2015, I directed the documentary "Mystique Ouidah", made again in Benin alongside the journalist Simone Stefanelli. The social work continued in 2016, when I documented the APOF project (Pathologists Beyond Borders) on the ground in Owerri, Nigeria, shining a light on cervical cancer research and prevention.
In 2017 the compass swung to the cliffs of Galicia, in Spain, where I made the reportage "The Last Percebe": a raw account of the extreme lives of the last harvesters of a rare bivalve, balanced precariously inside a deepening ecological crisis.
In recent years the bond with the Foreste Casentinesi National Park has grown stronger still. I follow the documentary project "Da Rifugio a Rifugio" with photo and video reportage, contribute to new editions of the guide "In bici nel parco" and document the European project LIFE ShepForBioin the field. Alongside all this I keep a steady commitment to teaching and to courses on visual culture.
In parallel I work with public bodies and tourism agencies to tell the story of the region. Among the most recent works is "Risonanze", a short film about the women who work in the supply chain of Parmigiano Reggiano, a story that brings together tradition and women's perspectives.
Today I'm also looking towards new, more exploratory forms: currently in writing and production is "Altair", an experimental, autobiographical documentary project.
