It has been almost a month since the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and the U.S. embassy in Cairo, sparked by the now infamous anti-Islam video that stoked violent protests across the Muslim world. In Egypt, where the protests began Tuesday, the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, riot police clashed with hundreds of protesters near the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
Many will continue to describe this latest wave of protests as rooted in extremism, anti-Americanism, or as a failure of the Arab Spring movement and U.S. policy. We are simply witnessing the evolution of the original struggle of the Arab Spring that began back in December 2010. We should expect more bursts of rage and cultural frustration as citizens continue to search for the their new democratically elected leaders. It will take time, but eventually we will see the Arab Spring in full bloom.
Sebastiano Tomada Piccolomini was born in 1986 in New York City.
Having completed the classic Maturita’ in Italy, he attended Parsons and the New School in NYC,
graduating with a double major in Media Studies and Photography in 2009.
While working on commercial and editorial shoots in both Europe and the US, assisting several famous fashion photographers, Sebastiano developed a unique style of his own, focusing strongly on documentary and portrait photography.
Travelling extensively for todays most recognised news pubblications such as the Atlantic, Paris Match, LIFE, Vogue, Le Pointe, The WSJ and TIME, Sebastiano’s later work focuses on the war-torn conflicts in some of the worlds most volatile regions, particularly the Middle East.
From his eye-gripping close-ups of direct combat, his photos have excelled in maturity,
earning him a series of prestigious awards: The American Photography Award, NYPPH and the
POY in photojournalism.
His work is inspired by David Hume’s provocative overstatement: “Reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of passions.”
He currently contributes for SIPA USA and is based between New York and Beirut.
