RAFFAELE PETRALLA
Cosmodrome

Russian's border security zone in Mezen. 300 km from Arkhangelsk and few from Polar Circle.
In this hostile territory, where environmental and climatic factors make everyday life strenuous, computing errors in the trajectories of satellites from Plesetsk’s Cosmodrome become an unexpected resource. About 1500 km North of the launch base, between forests and tundra, there is a populated area of about ten villages.
Inhabitants, who base their own survival on hunting and fishing, are used to build daily life objects - mostly sledges and boats called “raketa”- with the collected fragments of space rockets, making illegal business of the internal metal components. Recovery operations take place during the winter, in which the river beds freeze and makes roads more easily passable with sleds and cars. A highly toxic chemical compound called unsimmetrical dimethylhydrazine is used as a propellant. According to the local testimonies, several cases of cancer are occurring in the area.

Author
Raffaele Petralla is a documentary photographer who graduated from the Scuola Romana di Fotografia in 2007.
His personal works and assignments have been published on the main media worldwide including: New York Times, National Geographic U.S.A., Geo, Internazionale, L’Espresso, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, D-la Repubblica, Days Japan, Terra Mater, De Morgen, VICE to name a few.
In recent years Petralla has received many awards and nominees including: PDN storytellers, Burn Emerging Fund, Fotografia Etica Prize, Moscow Photo Awards, Organ Vida, SIPA, Lugano Photo Days, Verzasca, Fotoleggendo, Premio Voglino, Prix ANI, Intarget Photolux, Kolga Tblisi and Portfolio Italia 2019.
Since 2015 he has been a member of the Prospekt Photographers agency. He is teacher at the Centro Romano di Fotografia and Cinema in Rome and Spaziotempo School of Photography in Bari.

Website
www.raffaelepetralla.com

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