Alessandra Quadri was born in Padua, Italy, in 1980 and is currently based in Rome. After a college degree in D.A.M.S. (Art of Music and Entertainment Disciplines) at Padova University with a specialization in Photography History and Technique, Alessandra attended a three year master in photography at Scuola Romana di Fotografia in Rome. Since then, she has been working in the field of photography with various approaches (weddings to make a living, assistant to photographers to enhance her experience on the field, personal and journalistic projects for her pleasure and passion).
Her photojournalistic projects are mostly centered on social themes, especially on women and their plight: she has produced a story on the integration of young Islamic women in Rome which also lead her to Egypt and Morocco; she explored the practice of child marriage in Rajasthan, India (a work which earned her an honourable mention at Santa Fe's Center Project Competition and was selected for the "Slideshow Night" event at the Anneneberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles), she entered the houses of Serb and Bosnian families of Srebrenica (Bosnia-Erzegovina) and has been concentrating since 2006 on the gypsy community of Rome, Italy, an essay which earned her a first prize in Corigliano Fotografia 2010's Protfolio Award, a second prize at national competion "Portfolio Italia 2010", personal and collective exhibitions and publications on national media. Other recent projects include an uncommon view of Rome from the rooftops od San Lorenzo neighbourhood and a personal research project on herself through self-portraiture.
Photography, she says, has a therapeutic value to her; after years of study, she found that it is an ideal media, like a psychoanalytic tool to overcome her fears and obsessions, giving her new sensibility towards the world, stimulating her curiosity, strengthening her thirst for knowledge.