Paola Favoino lives and works between Rome and the Calabrian countryside. 

With a background in sociology, she began studying photography in 2011. 

From 2011 to 2017 she worked on a project about sworn virgins in Albania that became – A JE BURRNESH – a photography book published in 2019 by Edizioni D’ottobre/Balter and edited by Aminta Pierri. The book has been exhibited in Italy and abroad at photo festivals as Castelnuovo di Porto, Athens and Copenhagen in 2021 and 2022.

Based on her previous experience of working on sworn virgins, she explored the theme of the narrative that the body can make of the inner self with the series “L’isola” (the Island) which was officially shortlisted for the Blowup Press Book Award and won the Honorable mention to the Premio Bastianelli in 2021. The series was also exposed in Castelnuovo Fotografia Festival in 2022. 

“White blossoms” is the project she started to work on during her artistic residency in Latvia in 2022 and is about the memory of sorrow. 

With the outbreak of war in Ukraine, she began a correspondence work with Kiev that became “Birds are not allowed to cross the border” that was exposed at the Goethe-Institut of Rome, in Denmark at the IIC of Copenaghen and at the NTL in Holstebro as part of the Spore project.

In several projects her photography is the result of analog manipulation of the negative and actions during the printing process in the darkroom.

Exhibitions

2023 Birds are not allowed to cross the border – Nordiske Teater Laboratorium, Holstebro, DK

2023 Birds are not allowed to cross the border – IIC Copenaghen, DK

2023 Birds are not allowed to cross the border – Goethe-Institut, Rome, Italy

2016 A Je Burrnesh – De Chirico Art Gallery, Turin, Italy

2016 A Je Burrnesh – Rizoma – Ex Pretura, Trebisacce, Italy

2014 A Je Burrnesh – AOC F58 Galleria d’Arte, Rome, Italy

2013 A je Burrnesh – Il Punto Einaudi Library – Rome, Italy

Collective

2022 White Blossoms – Rucka Artist Residency exhibition, Latvia

2022 L’isola – Festival Castelnuovo Fotografia X ed.  – Castelnuovo di Porto, Italy

2020 A Je Burrnesh – Collettivo 2.0 – Antico granaio, Roseto Capo Spulico, Italy

2018  A Je Burrnesh – Il Mostro – Tevere Art Gallery, Rome, Italy

2018  A Je Burrnesh – ENDorFINE – Tevere Art Gallery, Rome, Italy

2017  A Je Burrnesh – MIA PHOTO FAIR  / THE MALL, Milano, Italy

2017  A Je Burrnesh – TAG Factory Exhibition, Tevere Art Gallery, Rome, Italy

2016 A Je Burrnesh – “Sex is confusion – Corpi, Generi, Identità” – Teatrofficina Refugio, Livorno, Italy

2015 A Je Burrnesh – Tumbleweed – Il Cantiere, Rome, Italy

2014 A Je Burrnesh – The Darkroom Project Exhibition 4 – Muro Leccese (LE), Italy

2013 A Je Burrnesh – “Festival Kalidoscopio # 1: féminité en (de) construction à travers l’Europe” – Nantes, France

Awards

2022 Athens Photo Festival – A JE BURRNESH – selected

2022 Rucka Artist Residency, Latvia- selected

2022 BlowUpPress Book Award – L’ISOLA – shortlisted

2021 Premio Marco Bastianelli – L’ISOLA – Honorable mention

2021 Copenhagen Photo Festival – A JE BURRNESH – selected for ROOM

2020 Balam N°6 Mestizx – selected

2020 PHC Capalbio Fotografia – A JE BURRNESH – Honorable mention

2020 Premio Marco Bastianelli – A JE BURRNESH – shortlisted

2022 talk on A Je Burrnesh with EFFE Collective, Gioiosa J. and Lamezia Terme

2020 talk on A Je Burrnesh with Leporello, Parco Egeria, Roma