Valentina Sinis
Italy
Biography
Valentina Sinis is an Italian photographer living and working between China, Iraq and Italy. Her work gravitates toward the quirky and the unconventional, focusing on people and realities that often remain outside mainstream media coverage. Her photographs have been published in numerous international newspapers and magazines.
She was part of the VII Mentorship Program from 2018 to April 2021 and, in 2019, was selected as one of the 6x6 Europe Talents by World Press Photo. In 2020, she worked in Viet Nam on assignment for UNICEF and was awarded several distinctions, including an Honourable Mention at the Marilyn Stafford FotoAward, the title of Winner at Female in Focus, and support from the National Geographic Fund for Journalists.
Her work received the Award of Excellence at POY for Issue Reporting Picture Story, and she later collaborated as a co-producer with the BBC on the story Broken Princess. In recent years, she has been producing and directing an ongoing documentary project in Sinjar, Iraq.
Her projects have been exhibited and recognised internationally, including at Festival Off Arles, Les Rencontres de la Photographie Marrakech – where she also served as a juror – and through selections such as the Un/fund shortlist. Her recent awards include an Honourable Mention at the Zeke Award, First Prize at the Istanbul Photo Awards in the Story Daily Life category, First Prize at Fotografia al Femminile – I AM IO SONO, Second Place at AAP Magazine #46 Women, and recognition at InCadaqués.
Her work has been exhibited in venues such as the Museo Etrusco in Rome, PhotoFrome, and the United Nations in Geneva. In 2025, she also worked in Sierra Leone on assignment for Emergency NGO, continuing her commitment to socially engaged documentary storytelling.
t to socially engaged documentary storytelling.
Project
“Were Afghan Women to Unveil Their Tales” by Valentina Sinis is a documentary photography project that offers a close and respectful look at the lived realities of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, focusing on the loss of their fundamental rights and freedoms and the quiet forms of resistance that persist in everyday life. Because the Taliban have imposed over seventy restrictions affecting women’s access to education, work, healthcare and freedom of movement, many Afghan women face severe limitations yet continue to assert their identity through small but courageous acts such as running businesses, teaching vocational skills or gathering in community spaces.
Rather than sensationalising hardship, Sinis’s work emphasises humanity, resilience and hope, capturing moments that reveal both the pressures of oppression and the inner strength of women determined to retain dignity and purpose.
