Pipeline / druk 1

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has declared Nigeria

among the top eight countries with the highest human trafficking

rates in the world. Photographer Elena Perlino has been working on

this extremely important topic for many years, focusing mainly on the

Italian connection since Italy has an extensive sex industry based on

trafficking from Africa. Perlino's work attempts to show the

complexities and contradictions of women's experiences,

documenting their daily life in Turin, Genoa, Rome, Naples and

Palermo. By collecting stories of women from Benin City (Edo State)

- where around 80% of trafficked women come from - this reportage

bears witness to the multiple reasons behind women's forced or

voluntary migration. Elena Perlino has succeeded in telling a

breathtaking story with elegance; this book became thus a harsh yet

touching portrait of one of Europe's most horrific daily scenes.

Elena Perlino (Italy, 1972) is a

documentary photographer covering

human issues. Her recent works have

been focusing on migration, human

trafficking and gender issues. In 2013

she got the Prix Portfolio ANI,

Vendôme, France. Her long-term

project Pipeline will be exhibited at

Les Rencontres Internationales de la

Photographie and Gaspésie, Canada in

2015. Her work was shortlisted for the

Magnum Emergency Fund 2013 and

2011. Elena's images have been

exhibited internationally, in places

such the Lawndale Art Center in

Houston, Texas; Les Rencontres

Internationales de la Photographie,

Arles; the Festival Internazionale in

Rome; the Museum of Contemporary

Art in Genoa; and PhotoEspaña in

Madrid. Elena Perlino is based in

Paris, France.

Cristiana Giordano is an Assistant

Professor in the Department of

Anthropology at the University of

California, Davis, USA. She earned her

degree at UC Berkeley, and has done

extensive research on human

trafficking, mental health and foreign

migration in Italy.

Isoke Aikpitanyi is a former victim of

trafficking and now the main reference

point for Nigerian women in Italy. She

has published two books on the

subject: I. Aikpitanyi, Le ragazze di Benin

City (together with L. Maragnani;

2007); and 500 storie vere (2011).