“Volga Blues”: Alessandro Cosmelli + Marzio G. Mian
Artist Talk

The Volga river has defined the history and geography of Russia and is the basin of Russian identity. If there is a way to try to understand what it means to be Russian today, it is to travel along the Volga region.

Journalist Marzio Mian and photographer Alessandro Cosmelli followed the Volga to understand Vladimir Putin’s isolated, neo-imperial Russia, where the river, among other things, is the main artery for the traffic of goods and weapons with which Russia and Iran circumvent sanctions.

Join Alessandro and Marzio for a presentation of their reporting and photography, which ran in Harper’s magazine in January 2024, as an essay titled "Behind the New Iron Curtain."

RSVP (Not required to attend this free event).

Bios:

Alessandro Cosmelli is an Italian-American documentary photographer. He has traveled and worked in over 50 countries and across the United States during the Obama and Trump eras, focusing on issues relating to human rights, conflict aftermath, and identity. His research is inspired by the dynamics and forces that shape our contemporary society and the interactions between individuals and their communities in a globalized world.

Marzio G. Mian is an award-winning correspondent and author. For seven years, he was deputy editor-in-chief of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera's weekly magazine and is now a contributor to Corriere della Sera, Reportagen, Revue XXI, GQ Italia, L'Espresso, RAI TV, SKY Italia, and RSI Swiss Public Radio for cultural, social, and geopolitical topics. Mian has produced print, video, and audio reports from 56 countries, which included the collapse of communism, the Balkan wars, the enlargement of Europe, and four American presidential campaigns.

Address: Bronx Documentary Center, 614 Courtlandt Ave, Bronx, NY 10451

IMAGE: Holy Trinity Cathedral choir, Saratov. © Alessandro Cosmelli