Since 2004, more than 3,500 cases of child abuse committed by priests and Church members were reported to the Vatican.
In 2014 reports from the UN have accused the Vatican of “systematically” adopting policies that have allowed priests to rape and molest thousands of children over the decades, failing to report allegations to the authorities and transferring the offenders to new dioceses, where they could commit abuse again.
Often abuses fall silent, the cases are covered, the victims are afraid to make their voices heard. They fear people’s reactions, or those of their beloved ones, and their friends’. Victims are entrenched into an agonizing silence; they do not want to disclose the violence they have suffered. Forced to live with a burden they will carry with them for a lifetime, unable to forget the past.
The scars are deep, the memories heavy, the silence deafening. “Confiteor (I Confess)” is a journey into these memories, into these scars, into this silence.
Biography
Tomaso Clavarino, documentary photographer and director, works since 2014 with major International medias (Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Der Spiegel, The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, amongst others) . He has exhibited his works in several international photo festivals (Les Rencontres d’Arles, Format19, PhotoKathmandu, Athens Photo Festival, Fotografia Europea), art galleries and public spaces such as the European Parliament.
During the years he has received many grants and financial aids by prestigious institutions such as the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation.
Hasselblad Ambassador, in 2019 e has directed “Ghiaccio-Sweeping Lives”, his first documentary feature film.