Photographer Massimo Sestini: I gave that photo to the world, a politician cannot use it against migrants

Renowned photographer Massimo Sestini (Prato, 1963), an acclaimed photojournalist best known for his aerial views documenting current events (such as the Costa Concordia disaster, the L’Aquila earthquake, the funeral of John Paul II, and the Capaci massacre), has decided to sue the deputy mayor of Trieste, Paolo Polidori of the League: a few days ago, Polidori in fact used, for an anti-immigrant post, what is perhaps the most famous photograph by Massimo Sestini, the shot capturing from above a barge with 227 migrants rescued on June 7, 2014, by the Italian Navy off the coast of Libya as part of Operation “Mare Nostrum” (a photo that allowed him to win second prize in the General News section at the 2015 edition of World Press Photo, the most prestigious award in the field of photojournalism). Last Jan. 3, Polidori had published Sestini’s photo, accompanying it with a text that, stuffed with his party’s typical slogans (such as “the fun is over”), reprimanded mayors guilty of contesting the security decree and guilty of not wanting to apply it in their municipalities.

For Sestini, the photo (one of the most famous shots of the migrant tragedy, of which it has become a symbol) was not only used without permission, breaking elementary copyright rules (and without Polidori, moreover, mentioning the author’s name), but it was misused. “I gave that photograph to the world,” Sestini told Repubblica. “I worked for two years to find an image that would tell those journeys of hope. A politician cannot use it like that, and especially against migrants. And so I am suing and asking for damages. This time it’s up to the deputy mayor of Trieste, the one who threw the clothes of the clochard.” The reference is to the unfortunate affair Polidori was responsible for earlier this year when, noticing the presence of a homeless man’s bed in a central street of Trieste, he took the man’s few belongings and threw them into a garbage can, bragging on social media about his gesture: the deputy mayor of the city of Trieste was then met with strong criticism, with thousands of users on Facebook and other networks condemning his behavior without appeal and in a bipartisan manner.

The photojournalist then decided to sue Polidori: the claim amounts to 30,000 euros (25,000 for damages and 5,000 for legal fees). Sestini’s lawyer, Massimo Stefanutti, disputes several violations, from failure to respect reproduction and distribution rights to violation of the processing right (because of the words used to accompany the image. “The main infringement that we contest together with my client,” the attorney wrote, “however, concerns the moral right of copyright. The image has also been used other times, we have ongoing litigation, for example, with Fratelli d’Italia and the 5 Star Movement. The photograph is about migrants and speaks about them in a certain way, decontextualizing the image against its own meaning and exploiting it for one’s own political ends goes against what the author wanted to express.”

Image: World Press Photo 2015, general news , 2nd prize singles: rescue from Bergamini ship of Italian Navy 07 June 2014 mediterranean sea, Italy © Massimo Sestini

Photographer Massimo Sestini: I gave that photo to the world, a politician cannot use it against migrants

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