Cheerleading is normally associated with the US and as a discipline supporting other sports, mainly by chanting and dancing. This was undoubtedly the origin of the sport, which started in 1898 at the University of Minnesota.

Today, Cheerleading evolved into a unique practice; a separate and competitive team sport, where athletes are working together in unison to create something spectacular which is a mix of gymnastic, dancing and acrobatics.

At a typical cheerleading competition, teams perform a 2 and a half minutes routine with music that includes sequences consisting of stunts, tumbling, baskets, jumps, a pyramid and a dance.
Competitive cheerleading may involve teams that are either associated with a school or university, or are “All-Star”, which means the programme is run as a business and may have several teams at different levels/ages.
All Star teams typically consist of 5 to 38 athletes, all girls or mixed genre and they train year-round for competitions. Each team member is vital to the team and the performance and they all have different skill sets. At competitions, the teams are divided by age and ability level.

On July 2021, Cheerleading became an official Olympic Sport.
The new Olympic status means that an Olympic host nation is now able to select Cheerleading for inclusion at its games.

The International Cheer Union Association comprises of 119 members National Federations and includes over 10 million athletes across all 7 continents. Between the 119 countries are some unexpected countries, many with a very active base.
In 2023 I travelled to Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Viet Nam and Greece to document the skills, ability, sweat and passions of the local teams but also to highlight the special bond within each team, so strong that creates a support network comparable to a family.

A joyful and colourful project that intends to challenge prospective and stereotypes often associated with cheerleading and the included countries.

Alpha Beach is located in a community called Okun Alfa.
Okun Alfa is a coastal community located in Lagos, South-West Nigeria, on the coastline by the Atlantic Ocean. The Aworis’ are believed to be the first settlers of the area.

Located 15 minutes off Lekki-Epe, the major Lagos expressway, Alpha Beach was, until recently, a popular destination for many Lagos residents – one of the cheaper and more accessible beaches for people in Nigeria’s booming capital looking to get away. Today, however, many of the businesses catering for tourists and beachgoers have been literally washed away, as Okun Alfa has seen shoreline erosion and ocean surges destroy everything from buildings to roads to electricity poles.
Three times in the past 15 years flood waters have destroyed many of the community’s structures. Each time the community rebuilds. Many now call this the city’s “fourth incarnation” – and they expect a fourth flood, too. The municipality’s low-lying elevation – it is just 15 metres above sea level on average – makes it particularly vulnerable, and residents say they aren’t sure how much longer Okun Alfa itself will exist.

With a sense of despair setting in, last year the residents decided to bring in the services of Yeye Asimolowo Ganiyat, a priestess of the Yoruba deity Osun. She and the community have agreed to conduct a weekly procession through the town with a cow, ending at the ocean, where the animal is sacrificed.
The turn to religion is perhaps not surprising given that the people here have spent decades badgering government officials to address the threat of the rising sea, to no avail. Time after time, government hopefuls use the crisis as a way to gain votes – and then do nothing.

The Caspian Sea is shrinking, at an unprecedented speed.
Touching five countries (Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan), the Caspian is the world’s largest enclosed body of water, with a shoreline of 1,400km, but also the shallowest. Some areas are only about 4-6 meters deep.
According to a new report in the Institute of Hydrology and Ecology, which will be published at the end on 2023, it has fallen near the lowest-recorded level of -29m below sea level, recorded in 1977; the average annual level in 2023 is already below this level, and the rate of decline is accelerating: it is now at nearly 23.3 centimetres per year. In June, the local Aktau authority declared a state of emergency.
The decline is particular upsetting given the fate of the similar Aral Sea – once the fourth largest lake in the world, now barely visible on the map
The Caspian’s drop-in sea level is felt most strongly on its shallow northern coast. Kaydak and Komsomolets bays have vanished, following Mertviy (Died) Kultuk bay which was lost at the end of the last century. Habitats are becoming more susceptible to storm surges, extensive shoals are forming and the entire north-eastern coastline is shifting – since 2008 it has retreated by an average of about 42km, and 6,821 square kilometres has dried up.
The factors are both natural and anthropogenic. The main tributaries of the Caspian Sea – the Volga and the Ural, both of which originate in Russia – have lost a lot of water. Lower precipitation and higher temperatures are factors, but so too is growing water consumption due to human demand
Meanwhile, Aktau is mushrooming. Originally a small uranium mining settlement, a new nuclear power station and a desalination plant transformed the steppes into a small city; the oil and gas export industry has seen it boom even more. The limited desalination system is barely sufficient to sustain its demand for water.
Two hundred kilometres north across the steppe, meanwhile, is the small fishing village of Fort Shevchenko, local fishermen have seen the conditions change – not just the shrinking sea but increased industrial production and oil extraction that have polluted the water. Ever since the large oil company has arrived in 1993, water pollution has worsened. In December 2020, the mysterious deaths of 2,500 seals made international news.
The Kazakh government is taking small steps to protect the sea. It has established a protected Northern Zone for seals and sturgeon.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants have crossed deserts, the snows of the Alps, or Balkan forests carrying the weight of similarly traumatic events, to find a new life in an increasingly inhospitable Europe. Once they get there – if they do – how do they begin to process the painful experiences that prompted their journeys?
Depression, PTSD, anxiety, self-harming, insomnia and panic attacks are among the growing mental health issues faced by asylum seekers who find themselves trapped in fear and uncertainty in Europe. In camps on the outskirts of major cities, or in safe houses, or on the pavements of European capitals, a million people await their destiny. Aid groups such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have been forced to step in to provide psychiatric care for this population of often highly disturbed people.

The sense of displacement and suspension are the main elements that come across when talking to any asylum seeker.
The uncertainty of their condition, the inability to work, to know if and when they will gather official documentation, to know if they could stay and settle or once again disappear in the shadow and continue their journey. Many have been talking about 'facing a second war', a physiological war, which is more complex than an actual one.

Commissioned by the Guardian and MSF I travelled to 4 different cities in Europe (Belgrade, Athens, Brussels and Gothenburg) focusing on the 'second stage' of the integration process. Rather than visiting camps I focused in big cities and met people that have been living in cities context for months or years

After Grenfell's tragedy it was important to understand what life is for people that live in the area and the people that live in the tower opposite Grenfell.
Everybody in that communities has been touched deeply from what happened on the 14th of June 2017, when over 70 people lost their life.

The Silchester Estate was built in the late 60s in Notting Dale, an area renowned for its piggeries in the 19th century, its slums in the 30s and its race riots in the 50s. The estate’s four towers were part of a utopian vision, creating new communities in the sky, surrounded by open land. Ashby is more proud of the open land than anything else: while the nearby Westway is clogged with traffic pumping out pollution, this garden, which is open to the general public, allows the area to breathe.

After the fire, it was reported that Kensington and Chelsea had reserves of £274m, making it one of the richest councils in the country. It was also revealed that the fire-resistant zinc cladding approved by Grenfell residents had been replaced in the refurbishment contract with combustible aluminium panels, to save £293,368 on the tower’s £10m regeneration bill.

The result of an incredible 4 months collaborations with the community living in the shadow of Grenfell. Read the full article of Simon Hattenstone watch the great videos of Alex Healey in the link below

The Carnival of Viareggio in Tuscany is one of Italy’s most spectacular street events. It has taken place since 1873. It fills a month of day and night festivities with parades of allegorical floats, parties and masked balls.

I have photographed the last 4 editions of the Carnival, focusing on the preparation and everyday life in the Cittadella. The "Cittadella del Carnevale", which opened in 2001, is an extraordinary architectural complex dedicated to the creation and preservation of the carnival, and is where the floats are prepared on the morning of the parade.

The carnival is a competition between all the floats and masquerades, and at stake are the honour and livelihoods of many people.

The main raw material of the carnival is papier-mâché. A local manufacturer, Antonio D’Arliano, was the first to make a sculpture for the carnival using the method in 1925.

There are four categories of float that make up the parade. First class, with nine giant floats, second class with four, the group masquerades of nine floats, and the single masquerades of 15 floats. The differences are in size, complexity and the budget available. It can take over six months to build the huge floats.

Here is a small selection of photos

Vatican City is a highly secretive world in miniature containing in less than half a square kilometre everything a state needs.

The Roman church has kept its political power well established through the centuries. Catholicism has always been at the centre of Italian society, but what is decided in the Vatican does influence the life of billion people around the globe.

The sense of history, the magnificent spaces and the silence are elements that wrap your senses when you walk around the Vatican. Tradition, hierarchy, spirituality and big events have always been at the heart of the Church.

Thanks to an extraordinary Jubilee, which normally happen every 25 years, and after many months of letters and meetings, I have been given an unprecedented opportunity: I have spent 2 months documenting some of the behind the scene and mainly the people in the Vatican.

From the nuns that work in the Sacristy ironing the Pope’s and clergies’ garments to the gardeners, from the Sampietrini in charge of the maintenance of St Peter to the Pope’s driver and the Swiss Guards, my work is an homage to the people at the base of the Vatican’s hierarchy showing situations rarely seen by the public.

For four decades, Prof. Nalini Nadkarni has studied cloud forest in the Costa Rican town of Monteverde. In that time, global warming has wrought big changes – and now threatens to dry out the area’s lush hanging gardens for good. Only about 1% of the planet’s woodlands are cloud forest. The montane cloud forest is one of the world’s three most sensitive along with the threatened coral reefs and ice caps. And all indicative of a world that is experiencing climate change and that’s happening now. Nalini Nadkarni is sitting with her notebook and tape measure near the top of a strangler fig in Costa Rica’s Monteverde forest, on a branch 35 metres above the ground that is almost broad enough to walk along. Attached to the rope she has climbed to reach her perch, she squats among mosses, orchids and other plants that grow thickly on the bark, giving the canopy the impression of a hanging garden. Known as epiphytes – plants that grow on other plants – they are Nadkarni’s special field of scientific research, omnipresent in the unique ecosystem of Costa Rica’s montane cloud forest. They thrive between 1,500 and 1,800 metres and depend on their ability to take water and nutrients directly from the swirling mists that should cloak these slopes. But the continued existence of the cloud forest in Monteverde is under threat from global warming. Only occurring in a narrow altitude band whose upper limit is defined by where the mountain tops run out and by the altitude at which the trees can grow, it is being squeezed in a vice from below by warmer and drier weather patterns eradicating the enfolding cloud. Amphibians that once lived here have died back, to the point of species extinction in some cases. The breeding patterns of the area’s emblematic resplendent quetzals – the colourful birds that have long drawn tourists to the area – are being disrupted. Lowland species of bats and birds, including toucans, have begun moving into the cloud forest.

These pictures are taken in London, in Hackney, specifically around and in Cazenove Rd.

The images are part of a bigger project and an exhibition developed in collaboration with the Hackney Museum about the road, the community and its surroundings.

Cazenove rd sum up the multiculturalism of the city, where within one road there is a Mosque, a Synagogue, a queer bar, plus the typical charity shop, the second hand shop, the art gallery, the organic shop etc etc...

The culmination of the Palio di Siena is a 90-second horse race. But for Sienese, it is so much more than that: it is an embodiment of civic pride that has been held since 1656

The Palio di Siena horse race has been held twice a year, in July and August. Ten horses and riders representing ten of the city wards compete in a 3 laps race around the Piazzo del Campo. ThePalio is a way of life that dominates throughout the year.
There are seventeen contrade, or wards, in Siena. Each contrada is a city within a city that provides a social structure, a support network and civic identity. The Palio is the culmination of the rivalry between the contrade.

Each Contrada is like a Republic, with a Parliament, and assembly. There is a Priore, which the head of the Contrada, the Captain which is the Ministry of War and in charge of the Palio and many other roles.
Quote "The Palio in fact is like a War". The Palio is not a re-enact, is not made for tourists. It's real and it can get brutal.

The Tratta is the day that open the Palio. 4 days before the actual race.
40 horses run around the Campo. Only 10 get picked by the different Captains.
Through a lottery, the 10 selected horses get given to each Contrada. Some horses are better than others and the Campo knows it. The "Barbaresco" is in charge to pick the horse and bring it back to the Contrada. Only in that moment the Captain and i Mangini (his deputies) start contacting the jockeys.
Once the jockey has agreed, he arrives in the Contrada and kept in a secured place for 4 days and escorted 24h a day.

From the evening of the Tratta the test run begin. There are 2 test run a day till the day of the Palio, in total 6 test run.

In these 3 evenings each Contrada, even the ones that don't run, hold the 'cenini' (small dinners). The night before the Palio is the main dinner with the jockey too.

The atmosphere and the tension in the city grow every day, till the day of the race.
Everything ends in 90 seconds but a victory last for ever and get celebrated throughout the following year.

Modern newspapers face aggressive competition for the reader's attention. Television and the internet have proved more effective at delivering breaking news fast, and a contemporary newspaper redesign must focus on the things which print can do better than other media.

The "eyewitness" centre spread is the most dramatic expression of this philosophy devoting the 60cm x 40cm centre spread to a single news image.
The image sits within a typographic frame, which brands it as part of the news run. The labelling is an enlarged version of the system used on other pages, but the colours - muted blue and greys – were selected so as not to compete with the images, and to stand apart from the warmer palette on the news pages, to suggest a distinction between text-led and visual content.

In an age of fast-moving but low-resolution images the still photograph has enormous power. Eyewitness has shown that even time-pressed newspaper readers value the opportunity to engage at their own pace with a photograph which can offer a depth of detail and meaning.

Thousands of migrants continue to arrive in Italy, crossing the Mediterranean Sea by boat and risking their lives to reach Europe.

In the last three years more than 50000 people have arrived on board more than 700 boats. Around 60% come from Maghreb,18% from East Africa, 15% from West Africa and the rest from Subcontinental Indian and Middle East.

Once they've landed, migrants are identified by the police and kept inside the Cpa (first aid centre) for few days, then redirected to other centres where they can stay longer and have their future decided. Some of them are granted asylum and others are sent back home. Approximately 20% of the 20.000 people who arrived in Lampedusa were deemed to be in need of international protection.

Between 2006 and 2008 there were several "tragic landings" reported, with an unknown number of deaths.

Since 2002 MSF has established a project at landings for one of the main entry doors to Europe, the island of Lampedusa. Although migration has become a structural phenomenon in Italy, reception conditions for these people have not markedly improved and the living conditions for undocumented migrants are usually extremely difficult. Even though high numbers of boat arrivals are foreseen, access to care for illegal migrants still remains a mirage in various parts of the country.

Rosarno in Calabria. The town, in middle of the toe of Italy, is an agricultural community of 15,000 people. It is one of the places where undocumented workers queue each morning for jobs on the Italian orange and olive groves, and in the juice and candied peel factories that supply northern Europe. About 5,000 of them live in the Rosarno area alone.

Recently the international charity Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) became so concerned about the plight of migrants in Calabria that it sent a team to assess the situation. It found that most migrants were living in conditions that do not even meet the minimum standards set by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for refugee camps in Africa. The organisation now runs free clinics in Calabria for undocumented migrants.

Migrant workers can only work on average three days a week. They can earn 25 euro a day, but some farmers have recently tried to cut pay to 11 euros a day as they find the price for oranges and clementines has fallen below their cost of production.

Many farmers have stopped harvesting their fruit because the world price is too low to cover their costs of labour, even using cheap migrants. They are facing competition from Morocco and Spain.

On the last days before it would have been evacuated, I went Inside the squatted centre where migrants have been previous living and sheltered in Calais.

Around 1,000 migrants are building a shantytown known as the ‘new jungle’ on the wasteland around the Jules Ferry day centre.

The Jules Ferry centre, is the first centre opened by the French government and for a few hours each afternoon, allows one hot meal, access to showers, toilets, electricity points to recharge phones and advice on migration and asylum issues.

The new day centre will provide overnight accommodation for 50 women and children but there is no overnight provision for men

Outside the small centre the condition are inhuman as no shelter or running water is provided.