2010 Infinity Award: Applied/Fashion/Advertising

Daniele Tamagni is a freelance photographer based in Milan and London. A regular contributor to the Italian magazine Africa, Tamagni has documented African and Caribbean communities worldwide, undertaking specific projects depicting culture, religion, music, fashion, and art. In the beginning of 2007, he began work onPeckham Rising, a project organized with Paul Goodwin, the cross-cultural curator at the Tate Britain. The project—an exploration of black urbanism in Peckham, London—was exhibited in a group show at the end of 2007. Tamagni is best known for his recent project Congo Dandies, which won best portfolio at the Canon Young Photographer Awards 2007 and second prize at Premio Ponchielli 2009. His debut book Gentleman of Bacongo, (Trolley Books, 2009) celebrates the Congolese culture of La SAPE, a French acronym for La Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes. The sapeurs, as they are called, sport ostentatiously dapper suits and fedoras, made all the more striking by the abject poverty of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.