Marco Vernaschi is an Italian author best known for his thought-provoking visuals and inspirational campaigns. He developed a variety of photography-based projects ranging from documentary to advocacy and contemporary art. His work integrates several private and museum collections, and is featured worldwide in mainstream media outlets such as the National Geographic Magazine, TIME, GEO, The New York Times.
As a grantee, Marco produced a set of projects with focus on Africa in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, including Narco State, an in-depth investigation on narco-terrorism, Dying for Treatment, an awareness campaign on reproductive health in the Sub-Saharan region and, in 2010, Child Sacrifice, an investigation on organ trafficking and ritual murder in Uganda.
Through the previous years, Marco produced an exposé on the aftermath of cocaine production and trafficking in Bolivia, and developed a set of investigations with focus on wildlife crime and conservation working in Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Indonesia and India in collaboration with the CITES (United Nations). He then contributed to shape several essays working with ICTE in Madagascar, and with WCS, FFI and BVAR in Belize.
Through 2011-13 Marco released two contemporary art projects that were featured worldwide in museums and major art venues, such as the Venice Biennale (2011), Rome’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MACRO), Noorderlicht Gallery and Tokyo Institute of Photography. His work forms part of several private collections.
In 2015 Marco created BIOPHILIA, a communication platform aimed to generate positive impact through visual communication. He then introduced SEEDS for LIFE, an awareness campaign that exposed the aftermath of pesticide abuse in Argentina, featured in National Geographic, CNN, BBC among other media outlets. SEEDS for LIFE, of which COLDPLAY’s Chris Martin became global ambassador, generated positive impact among the community at the center of the initiative, contributing to change regulations on pesticide use on a local level.
In 2019, Marco photographed, wrote and directed GAUCHA for Apple’s #ShotOnIphone global campaign. In 2021, he produced WARMI, a project that investigates the link between ancestral and contemporary feminism in Argentina’s Andean Altiplano. Marco has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the World Press Photo, and was enlisted among the Ambassadors of Italian Excellence in 2012. He joined The Photo Society in 2015.