Bio

Photojournalist and documentary photographer,  Valentina Camu was born in Genoa, Italy, and is based in Paris since 2007, living between Paris and the Landes region of France.

She works for the Italian, International and French press, as well as for NGOs, and social issues play a major role in her work, particularly situations of exile and the human tragedies they generate.
In 2023 she was awarded Journalismfound Europe's European Cross-border Grants along with journalists Maia Courtois, Simon Mauvieux, Nicolas Kelly and Mael Galisson, to work on the Channel border between France and the U.K. She is a member of the photographic agency Divergence and the Collectif de journalistes Hors Cadre.

As well as the topical subjects she covers for the press, Valentina  focuses her personal work on long-term documentary explorations, which enable her to develop and 'unfold' the different facets of a subject and to delve deeper into the human realities that inhabit it.She adapts her photographic techniques to this long period of time, sometimes reverting to film, and translates into images, in series of portraits, the richness of the human exchanges that develop as her investigative work progresses.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2022- 2025: Photographer, member of Divergence Images.

2020-2025: Member of the multidisciplinary group of journalists Hors Cadre. 

2015-2022: Photographer, member of the Hans Lucas Agency 

2015-2017: Correspondent photographer for the Italian media La Presse on current affairs.

2015-2025: Photographer for the Salvation Army Foundation.

FORMATION

‘Photographe Intervenante’, Training with Réseau Diagonal, 2023.
Developing a documentary project, Clarifying your photographic style", Agence VU, 2022.
Long-term workshop with Martina Bacigalupo 6 MONTHS MAGAZINE. Agency Vu-2020-2021.
Mastering the light for a portrait in situation", Agence VU, 2019.
Bayeaux ‘Péparation de reportage en zone dangereuse’, France Media Monde,2019
Residence with Richard Dumas Agence Vu, 2018.
Le récit photographique with David Burnett (photographer) and Laetitia Guillemin (iconographe)Eyes in progress- - 2013.
CAP photographie - AFOMAV - 2009
Beaux Arts- Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti ,Genova 2007

PRESS

NRC, The Guardian, The Indipendent, Les Jours, Basta!, Info Migrants, Mediapart, La Chronique d'Amnesty, Marianne, Streetpress, , La Croix, Le Media Social, L'Humanité, Le Pelerin , Mediacités, Liberation, Reporterre, Le Media...

CORPORATE

Colas, Airbnb, La marie du 12ème, La mairie du 18ème, Institut Terram,La Cimade, Le Secours Populaire, Visual Crew, Herno, L'Armée du Salut, SupDeRH, Tunon, Eden System...

EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS

2024: Travelling exhibition "Chemins d'exil" for the Help 4 Dunkerque Association.
2022: "Portraits d'Exilés Bénévoles" exhibition with France Bénévolat and L'armée du Salut at the Maison des Réfugiés
2022: Screening of "Mama Solange" at the Cité de Refuge.
2022: "Chemins d'exil" exhibition at the Médiathèque Boris Vian - Tremblay en France.
2019: Screening and debate on ‘photographing crowds’, with Bruno Barbey, Martin Barzilai and Alexis Berg.
2019: Soyons Ingouvernables! Pressenza travelling photo exhibition
2017: Exhibition at the conference ‘Les réfugiés Comment penser la prise en charge et agir’ at Paris Diderot University.
2017: ‘Regards croisés sur les jeunes en errance’, Macamdam festival, organised by the CEMEA in Rouen
2016-2017: Exhibitions and screenings with the Etats D'urgence magazine team, at the Monte en l'air bookshop, Libertalia and Espace Jemmapes.
2016: Hi-Kifak ça va? A Lebanese Portrait at Fiap Paris 13th arrondissement
2016: Hi-Kifak ça va? A Lebanese Portrait in Porto at Galeria Adorna Corações.

AWARDS - PRIZES 

2025- Project support Cross Border Forum
2025 - Project support CCFD Terres Solidaires
2025 - EUROPEAN CROSS-BORDER GRANTS - JournalismFound Europe
2024 - Coup de Coeur and shortlisted for the ANI Prize with the subject ‘Mama Solange’
2023-2024 - EUROPEAN CROSS-BORDER GRANTS - JournalismFound Europe

2020-2021- Residence with the Musée Départemental Albert-Kahn and the Service d'Action Artistique et Territorial (SAAT) and the DRAC of the Hauts-de-Seine department for its Contrat Local d'Education Artistique (CLEA) on the theme ‘Looking at the Other’.

2020 -Coup de Coeur and shortlisted for the Prix de L'ANI with the subject ‘Cultiver la Résistance’ (‘Cultivating Resistance’)

EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS

2025: Photography workshop at Pain levé secondary school with Rozenn le Carboulec and Fanny Marlier.
2024: Workshop with new arrivals accompanied by the AURORE - APSV association (Association de Prévention du Site de la Villette).
2024: Inclusion through sport - Collège Pain Levé (93) with Citoyenneté Jeunesse.
2024: Inclusion in sport - (93) with Citoyenneté Jeunesse.
2022-2023: Residence - workshops - Mediathèque de Tremblay en France.
2022: Sur le chemin d'Olympe, workshop with the Samu social and the association Dialogue en Photographie, in an emergency reception centre for single mothers with children.
2021: Studio photography and collage workshop with new arrivals at CAMNA (support unit for unaccompanied minors).
2021: Photography in motion workshop with first-time arrivals from CAMNA (support unit for unaccompanied minors), with photographer Delphine Blast.
2020_2021: CLEA with the Albert Kahn Museum in Issy les Moulinaux, Chatillon, Asnières and Meudon in secondary schools, primary schools, SEGPA classes, women's shelters, community centres and media libraries.
2019: Workshop on ‘creating a photographic story and a magazine’ with a secondary school class in Le Lilas, with Citoyenneté Jeunesse.
2018: Workshop on ‘creating a photographic story and a magazine’ with a secondary school class in Le près saint Gervais, with Citoyenneté Jeunesse.