This documentary (commissioned to us by Lavazza and aired on the Discovery Networks) tells of my journey through five African countries (Morocco, Senegal, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia) to investigate challenges facing women as they seek to contribute to Africa’s social, technological, and economic development. It was filmed whilst traveling with Steve McCurry, who was shooting the images for the 2015 Lavazza calendar. In September 2015, some of my own photographs from this trip were featured in the critically acclaimed Milan exhibition “The New Faces of Africa.” The main focus of this exhibition was the importance of child education and nutrition for sustainability and the alleviation of poverty.
(commissioner: Lavazza, production company: Magnolia, broadcaster: Discovery, 2015)

As part of the project, Lavazza commissioned me to take a series of photographs to tell the journey Steve McCurry and I undertook. The photographs featured in my solo exhibition The New Faces of Africa, which ran at the Hotel Boscolo in Milan from September to November, 2015, sponsored by Lavazza.

“PRESS RELEASE: A unique journey that lasted five months, in the heart of Africa; a report on the trail of a proactive, vital and constantly evolving continent, able to look to the future; a photographer with a keen eye that captures the essence of the men, women and children of those lands and highlights their pride and desire to be leaders of a free and independent tomorrow.

Photographer and video reporter that has dedicated his profession to international investigative pieces and reports, Davide Scalenghe exhibits a selection of 20 photographs shot during the trip that has taken him to Morocco, Senegal, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, alongside Steve McCurry. The occasion was that of the documentary and photographic project that accompanied the shooting of the Lavazza calendar 2015 “The Earth Defenders” by the American photographer, a collaboration between Lavazza and Slow Food, and that Scalenghe turned into a film broadcast by Discover’s Real Time.

The main themes of Expo 2015 are those of the exhibition “The New Faces of Africa”: food and nutrition, basic human need, but also symbol of freedom where rural production is the sector that employs entire villages and that puts African men and women at the center of their own destiny.

Many such communities have grown considerably in recent years and have today achieved full autonomy: farmers are able to sell their product directly, without the intervention of intermediaries, increasing the direct gain for the maintenance of their household.

In partnership with LAVAZZA.”