--- description: The Italian photographer explains what motivated him to stick with this story and the impact he hopes to make with his photographs. title: Alessandro Penso is TIME's Pick for Photo Story of the Year image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd57b7a3701569098/69887434cd1bba45b36fe677/hungary_close_border18.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Alessandro Penso is TIME's Pick for Photo Story of the Year by [Lucia De Stefani](/author/lucia-de-stefani/) ## Lucia De Stefani Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 15, 2015 10:00 AM CUT  Refugees from Syria crossed the Serbian border into Croatia. After Hungary closed its border with Serbia, refugees sought a new route into northern Europe, Sept. 17, 2015. Refugees from Syria crossed the Serbian border into Croatia. After Hungary closed its border with Serbia, refugees sought a new route into northern Europe, Sept. 17, 2015.Alessandro Penso by [Lucia De Stefani](/author/lucia-de-stefani/) ## Lucia De Stefani Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 15, 2015 10:00 AM CUT The massive humanitarian migrant and refugee crisis that has jolted the Mediterranean region for several years now, reaching an unparalleled peak in past months, has prompted professional and amateur photographers alike to document the plight of migrants, with important repercussions on both European politics and public opinion. A [report](http://www.iom.int/news/iom-monitors-mediterranean-arrivals-fatalities "undefined") published in December by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates over more than 900,000 people arrived by sea in 2015 as of late November – the majority of which reaching the peninsulas of Greece and Italy. Migrants of various national origins, including Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan, constitute the larger exodus that Europe has witnessed since World War II. Images of migrants and refugees climbing ashore in Lesbos, crammed together on arduous routes in Idomeni, Greece, or along train tracks in Tovarnik, have been seen by the vast public through the pages and websites of international publications and wire agencies. Without doubt, this was the most important story of the year, and when it came to select one photographer who have documented it outstandingly, one name rose above the fray: Alessandro Penso. Penso wasn’t alone in documenting this situation. As he mentioned in an interview upon returning from his first trip aboard Doctors Without Borders’ rescues boat, the migrant crisis might easily be the most documented event ever: “I would be curious to see some data, but I believe that this is the event that has produced the highest number of photographs,” he says, considering that professional photographers were not the only one taking pictures; refugees themselves were also [photographing](http://time.com/4064988/refugee-crisis-selfies/ "undefined") their journey. Yet, Penso’s remarkable coverage stands out because of its extent and depth. Penso stood on the shores of Kos and Lesbos, as migrants crossed the Aegean Sea in desperate conditions; he waited with them at a station in Corinth as they attempted illegally to board boats to Italy. He chronicled the dire journeys of refugees in Idomeni, and the hysterical situation in Tovarnik, Croatia, as migrants clogged train cars to reach Germany, Austria and Sweden. In Bulgaria, he entered refugee camps in the border towns of Harmanli and Banya, documenting the condition in which they lives without basic health services. He covered the crisis in Nador, Marocco, and Melilla, Spain, where migrants’ despair is met by wired fences. In Calais, he saw migrants sheltered in makeshift camps attempting to board trucks to reach England.  A boat carrying migrants is helped by locals on the Greek island of Lesbos. The boat started to leak, forcing the passengers to swim ashore, Aug. 5, 2015. Alessandro Penso The extensiveness of Penso’s coverage, however, is not just geographic. Going beyond the striking events and the overwhelming numbers, he pursues quiet, subtle moments of stillness and solitude that offer a deeper level of comprehension. In Penso’s photographs, we feel their exhaustion and despair. We get the broader context we need to understand this story. Penso began his career in photography relatively late. He studied clinical psychology at Rome’s La Sapienza University — a field that fostered the gentle sensibility that he embraces when approaching and photographing civilians — then turned to photography at 27, nearly 10 years ago. In 2007, he received a scholarship to study photojournalism at the School of Photography and Cinema in Rome, initiating his formal training in the field. His talent was soon recognized with a number of international awards and grants. The Project Launch Award in Santa Fe, Burn Emerging Photographer Fund, the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund, to name a few, encouraged his path while providing financial funding. The World Press Photo awarded him first prize singles in the 2014 General News category, further cementing his international career. Penso started working on Europe’s migration issue in 2010, focusing his effort on a different country each year. “I am intrigued by migration in its multiple nuances and points of views, in what is behind that word that ultimately encloses so many different realities,” he explains. What he tries to do is to go beyond the actual events to offer an analysis of what they mean and how they affect the people he’s documenting as well as the wider community. Penso has purposely focused his lens within Europe’s borders, a choice that often becomes a vocal criticism of the politics, or the “anti-politics” as he dubs them, introduced by European governments to address the crisis. Not only has the European Union showed an appalling lack of foresight, in his opinion, but it has also sacrificed its true nature by compromising the principles of unity and brotherhood that had long been vaunted as its bedrock. The concrete wall Hungary erected clearly speaks to such a degeneration, Penso admonishes. “I have always focused on what happens on our territory, meaning the people who arrive \[in Europe\], how they live, how they integrate here, what are the consequences of the laws we make,” he says.  A police officer screamed at a migrant as he attempted to board a train in Tovarnik, Croatia, Sept. 20, 2015. Alessandro Penso His interest in migrations stems from factors that are both private and endemic to his country. His grandfather came to Italy from Corfu in Greece. “It always struck me how he had the possibility to start again and build what is also part of my life today,” he says. Entwined with his personal tale, Penso’s experience was boosted by an event broadly aired on Italian TV channels. In the summer of 1991, thousands of Albanians escaping the communist regime commandeered a sugar cargo ship to take them to Bari, an Italian port city on the Adriatic Sea. Penso remembers the despair he could see on these people’s face. The images he saw on television then continue to inform Penso’s approach now. In his work, he tries to restore humanity to the people he’s photographing, he says, while creating images that, to some extent, the public is not accustomed to seeing. “It is my habit to go to people and introduce myself, feel the warmth of a handshake, exchange a smile and talk calmly,” he says. Most importantly, Penso needs to understand – and not just see – the pain and struggle of these people. “It might sounds commonplace, but in such desperate situations, people recognizes that and they need to feel the warmth.” As his photographs potently unveil the piercing reality beyond the breaking news and wire coverage, his work also intends to shake public opinion and target politicians with bitter, at times provocative questions: “What do we expect from these people that \[arrive and\] live in these harsh conditions? If a 15-year-old boy risks his life to cross \[the sea\], to move from Greece to Italy in a truck, at the mercy of the smugglers, who spends the most important years of his life trying to reach the so-called El Dorado — what do we expect tomorrow from these people?” And for Penso, photographers and journalists have a role to play. “Can we really leave out the background of these people – as we photographers have done for years – thinking that Europe has no responsibility in this situation? Is it really enough to just show a person that attempts a desperate journey in the desert to reach Italy, and then we are done with the story that we want to document?” Penso, with his deeply personal and extensive work, is leading the way, and for that reason, his images are TIME’s Pick for Story of the Year. [**_Alessandro Penso_**](http://www.alessandropenso.com/ "undefined") _is_ _a freelance photographer based in Italy. D_ _eeply committed to social issues, his work focuses on the immigration crisis in the Mediterranean Sea, and has been published in numerous international publications._ **_Alice Gabriner_**_, who edited this photo essay, is TIME’s International Photo Editor._ **_Lucia De Stefani_** _is a writer and contributor at TIME LightBox._ _Follow her on_ [_Twitter_](https://twitter.com/lucia%5Fdestefani "undefined") _and_ [_Instagram_](https://instagram.com/blueleeloo/ "undefined")_._ _Follow_ **_TIME LightBox_** _on_ [_Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/timemagazinephoto "undefined")_,_ [_Twitter_](https://twitter.com/timepictures "undefined") _and_ [_Instagram_](https://instagram.com/timelightbox/ "undefined")_._ ### Shining a Light on the Plight of Europe’s Migrants, From Rome to Brussels  17-year old Ali from Algeria lives in the old train station of Corinth, Greece. He hopes to be able to board a boat to Western Europe. Alessandro Penso  A group of migrants spends the night in the railway station of Orestiada, Greece, after crossing the border with Turkey. Alessandro Penso  A group of Afghans in abandoned factory in Patras, Greece – one of the main escape points from Greece due to the numerous cargo ships that dock in the port and are bound for Italy. Alessandro Penso  Three young Afghans spend the night in an abandoned building near the beach of Patras, Greece. Alessandro Penso  Mohammed from Algeria lives inside an old Columbia records factory in Athens, Greece. Alessandro Penso  Young Afghans cooking in an abandoned factory in Patras, Greece. Alessandro Penso  View from the factory where illegal immigrants live, near the port of Patras, Greece. Alessandro Penso  A group of adolescents are trying to board illegally a truck going to Italy. Only a very small percentage succeeds in this desperate attempt. Alessandro Penso  Mohammed, Ahmed and Nabi from Morocco live in a wagon in the abandoned train station of Corinth, Greece. Alessandro Penso  A group of North Africans migrants was attacked by three locals. Mostafa El Mouzdahir, a 20-year old from Morocco, was hit by a car and sustained multiple injuries. When I went to see him in hospital, he had a police form requesting him to leave the country within 15 days because he was in Greece illegally. Alessandro Penso  Afghan boys throwing stones into the sea in Patras, Greece. They are waiting for the evening, when they will try to sneak into the port to board a ship bound for Italy. Alessandro Penso  Mohamed from Morocco and his friends hiding and waiting for the right moment to illegally board a ship to Italy. 2012\. Corinth, Greece. Alessandro Penso  Portrait of a sub-Saharan migrant on Mount Gurugu, Nador, Morocco in 2012, where hundreds of African immigrants waited for the opportunity to cross the fence into Melilla, Spain. The enclave's border has heavy security, including a 19-foot-tall double fence with watchtowers. Alessandro Penso  The border fence that divides the Moroccan city of Nador from the Spanish enclave of Melilla, in Northern Africa, 2012\. The security fence which runs the full length of the border has heavy security, including a 19-foot-tall double fence with watchtowers, and is as a popular crossing for sub-Saharan migrants hoping to illegally reach Spain. Alessandro Penso  African migrants were rescued from their dinghy by Doctors Without Borders, in the Mediterranean Sea, Nov. 2015\. The ship Bourbon Argos was patrolling the waters off Libya when it encountered a dinghy carrying 93 migrants of different nationalities, including 31 women. Alessandro Penso  A migrant aboard the Doctors Without Borders ship looked toward the Italian island of Lampedusa, Sicily, Italy, Nov. 2015. Alessandro Penso  A Syrian father carried his two children after arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, Aug. 12, 2015. Alessandro Penso  A Syrian man was helped after collapsing on the beach in Lesbos, Greece. The boat he traveled on began to leak off the coast forcing him to swim to shore, Aug. 5, 2015. Alessandro Penso  The husband, (right), and relative of a 65-year old Iraqi woman grieved over her body covered with a towel on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, Oct. 16, 2015\. A man who made the journey with them and a volunteer mourned with them. The woman reportedly drowned after smugglers violently forced the family to leave the Turkish coast in an inflatable boat, which sank after departure. Alessandro Penso  An extended family from the besieged city of Kobane, Syria, arrived at the Moria detention camp in Lesbos, Greece, July 30, 2015\. They took shelter from the hot sun before embarking on a 4-mile walk to the port. Alessandro Penso  Two tourists photographed a Syrian family who arrived at Eftalou, on the northern coast of the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, Aug. 12, 2015. Alessandro Penso  Syrian refugees waited for temporary permits to stay in Greece. The 1-month temporary permits enable people to travel freely in Greece. Upon receiving the permits, migrants then can move to Athens and onwards to other European countries, July 30, 2015. Alessandro Penso  A garbage dump near the town of Molyvos on the Greek island of Lesbos, where thousands of life jackets used by migrants crossing to Greece from Turkey have been discarded, Oct. 3, 2015. Alessandro Penso  The interior of a tent set up for refugees in the courtyard of an abandoned hotel on the Greek island of Kos, June 8, 2015\. Doctors Without Borders' staff worked inside the hotel to improve conditions and provide medical and psychological assistance for the arriving migrants. Alessandro Penso  An Afghan couple, 22-year-old Noor Jan and his 19-year-old wife Parisa, who was seven months pregnant, waited for days to receive papers at the Moria registration center on the Greek island of Lesbos, Oct. 20, 2015. Alessandro Penso  A man covered in a thermal blanket walked along a muddy path lined with debris at the Moria registration center on the Greek island of Lesbos, where refugees wait days for for papers that allow them to travel onwards, Oct. 24, 2015. Alessandro Penso  An Afghan refugee sat in the mud covered in a garbage bag at the Moria registration camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Oct. 14, 2015. Alessandro Penso for MSF  An Afghan family waited to be registered at the Moria camp in Lesbos, Greece, during a rainstorm, Oct. 29, 2015. Alessandro Penso  A group of Syrian migrants spent the night on the north of the Greek island of Lesbos, near the beach of Eftalou, where they landed just a few hours earlier, Oct. 16, 2015. Alessandro Penso  Tahgi, 26, from Kabul, Afghanistan, with his wife and 1-year-old daughter walked during the night along the road that leads to the port of Mytilene, Lesbos, Greece, Aug. 14, 2015. Alessandro Penso  17-year-old Ali from Algeria camped at the old train station in Corinth, Greece, a small seaside town on the Peloponnese coast. A group of North Africans set up camp at the old station, living without running water or electricity. At night, they tried to board boats going to Italy, Feb. 2, 2012. Alessandro Penso  Syrian refugees Ama Haider, 38, tended her son Khalid Hamed, 22, who is handicapped. The family, including Haider's husband and two other children, made the arduous and risky journey from Turkey to Kos, Greece, by paying smugglers a fee of $10,000, July 8, 2015. Alessandro Penso  Mohamed, a youth from Morocco, and his friends hid behind rocks at the port in Corinth, Greece, 2012\. They waited for the right moment to illegally board a ship to Italy. Many young migrants see other European countries as their only hope of a future and attempt to leave Greece at the first possible moment. Alessandro Penso  Migrants of different nationalities inside the Safi Barracks Detention Center in the Maltese village of Safi, off the coast of Italy, Dec. 28, 2009. Alessandro Penso  A police officer at the Safi Barracks Detention Center on the island of Malta, 2009, where migrants hoping to reach Europe are detained. Alessandro Penso  At the Bulgarian-Turkish border, a group of four Syrians were found inside a Turkish truck during border controls, 2014\. Trucks are one of the most frequently used means of entering the European Union illegally. Alessandro Penso  Mostafa El Mouzdahir, a 20-year-old from Morocco, was intentionally hit by a car and sustained multiple injuries, in Corinth, Greece, 2012\. Migrants have become victims of vigilante violence by locals. Alessandro Penso  A group of young Afghans celebrated Ashura, a Muslim religious holiday which commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet, Patras, Greece, Nov. 16, 2013. Alessandro Penso  A young Afghan man rested in an abandoned house in Patras, Greece, 2014. Alessandro Penso  A migrant from Sudan prayed inside an abandoned factory, where he lived with 50 other migrants of different nationalities. Athens, Greece, 2012. Alessandro Penso  Portrait of a 16-year-old boy from Afghanistan, who received refugee status in Patras, Greece, 2012. Alessandro Penso  Two Afghan boys throw stones into the sea, Patras, Greece, March 8, 2012\. At night, they hoped to sneak into the port and board a ship bound for Italy. Alessandro Penso  A group of Afghan boys, aged 14 to 18, tried to illegally board trucks headed to Italy from Patras, Greece, 2012\. Over the years, many have lost their lives, or have been stopped by the police, trying to make this journey. Alessandro Penso  A 21-year-old migrant, Mohamed, downloaded a GPS map to help him navigate the crossing from Idomeni, Greece to Macedonia without the services of a smuggler, Feb. 2015. Alessandro Penso  Refugees, asylum seekers and migrants waited at the train station at the Croatian town of Tovarnik, near the border with Serbia, Sept. 18, 2015\. After Hungary closed its border with Serbia on Sept. 15, 2015, the flow of refugees attempting to reach north in Europe shifted to Croatia. Alessandro Penso  An exhausted Syrian woman carrying her child leaned against the barrier separating Serbia and Hungary. On Sept. 15, 2015, Hungary completed construction of its border fence with Serbia, aimed at stopping the flow of refugees and migrants crossing the border. Alessandro Penso  Refugees, asylum seekers and migrants attempted to board a train at the Croatian town of Tovarnik, near the border with Serbia. Some waited for days to catch a train and families were separated in the chaos, Sept. 19, 2015. Alessandro Penso  Refugees, asylum seekers and migrants attempted to board a train at the Croatian town of Tovarnik, near the border with Serbia, Sept. 20, 2015. Alessandro Penso  A group of more than 100 Syrian refugees walked across the Greek border into Macedonia, hoping to eventually reach northern Europe. By traveling in large groups, they can defend themselves against threats from traffickers and other hostilities, June, 6, 2015. Alessandro Penso  A building that houses refugees in Harmanli, Bulgaria, Sept. 19, 2014\. Once an old military base, it was converted into a refugee camp during the first massive influx of asylum seekers in 2013. Alessandro Penso  A camp for Syrian refugees in Harmanli, Bulgaria near the Turkish border, where asylum-seekers take refuge in tents, containers and a dilapidated building. The tents were not heated and the occupants slept either on thin mattresses or foldable beds, with four toilets serving the whole camp, Nov. 19, 2013. Alessandro Penso  A young girl from Syria inside the Harmanli camp, the biggest refugee camp in Bulgaria, Sept. 19, 2013. Alessandro Penso  A 17-year-old Palestinian youth from Aleppo, Syria, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, in the Harmanli refugee camp. Bulgaria, May 14, 2014. Alessandro Penso  Nezarisa Sakhi, a 31-year-old Iraqi, who was pushed from a bridge by locals and broke his leg, sat on his bunk at the Banya refugee camp in Bulgaria, May 16, 2014\. Sakhi claimed to have worked for the U.S. Army and he was forced to flee after being threatened because of his association with the Americans. Alessandro Penso  A settlement for refugees called the “Jungle,” in Calais, France, 2014\. Migrants of different nationalities arrived in Calais, a port city in the northern France, in the hopes of eventually seeking asylum in the United Kingdom, Calais, France, 2014. Alessandro Penso  Ahmed from Ethiopia and his girlfriend “Eva” from Eritrea, who met during the journey to France and were expecting a child, rest in their tent in the “Jungle,“ a camp for refugees in Calais, France, 2014\. “We met during the journey and we haven’t parted since,” said Ahmed, who hoped their child would be born in England. Alessandro Penso  Three Eritrean adolescents inside a reception center in Pozzallo, Sicily, Italy, looked at a map to find their location. Most young migrants hope to make their way to Germany, Norway, Sweden or England. Doctors Without Borders operates inside the center in Pozzallo, responding to the medical and humanitarian needs of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, May 25, 2015. Alessandro Penso  Ayoub, 18, from Afghanistan in Idomeni, Greece at the border with Macedonia, Greece, June 5, 2015\. Ayoub's family was killed when he was very young. He fled to Iran and claimed to have walked thousands of kilometers to Europe with only a sleeping bag and a few belongings. Alessandro Penso  A boy from Syria held food in Tovarnik, Croatia, near the border with Serbia, Sept. 20, 2015. Alessandro Penso  A Syrian boy at the border between Serbia and Hungary, waited for his family before continuing his journey north, Sept. 13, 2015. Alessandro Penso  The border fence between Bulgaria and Turkey, Sept. 19, 2014. Alessandro Penso  Refugees from Syria crossed the Serbian border into Croatia. After Hungary closed its border with Serbia, refugees sought a new route into northern Europe, Sept. 17, 2015. 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