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Valeria Mongelli Photography

I am an independent photojournalist, photographer, and journalist. I am currently based in Bangkok. I am currently based in Brussels, Belgium.

I am a freelance photojournalist, journalist, and photographer. I work as a stringer for Bloomberg, AFP, and AP and am a member of Hans Lucas photo agency. My work appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El País among others. In 2021, two of my photos have been nominated by AP for the Pulitzer Prize, AP and Paris Match selected one of my photos among the best 100 o

f the year and I was a finalist in the Siena International Photo Awards. Among my corporate clients are the International Monetary Fund (IMF), BNP Paribas, and Groupe L'Oréal. In my documentary work, I focus on migration and gender inequality. My photographic research is centered on women’s lives as a political act that subverts patriarchal society. I speak and write fluent English, French, Spanish, and Italian (native).

31/05/2026

The Rohingya Muslims describe themselves as kosu patar pani – a rain droplet adrift on a taro leaf. For nearly a million people, tightly packed into this sprawling labyrinth of camps, there is nowhere to go.

For several weeks in late 2017, the Myanmar military attacked and burned to the ground hundreds of Rohingya villages, massacring women, men, and children, and committing rapes.

At least 6,700 Rohingya were killed that month, according to Médecins Sans Frontières. About 700,000 crossed into Bangladesh; others had fled earlier persecution, and more continue to arrive.

Almost a decade on, the Rohingya remain in limbo, denied citizenship on both sides of the border.

Words by
My photos

22/05/2026

A resistance fighter walks on the debris of a monastery hit by regime airstrikes in Tanintharyi Region’s Mawdaung town on January 8, 2026.

On Wednesday, May 20, Myanmar military claimed to have recaptured the town on the Thai border, expanding the frontier trade crossings it claims to control in the grinding civil war, reported AFP.

and I visited Mawdaung in January, after resistance forces captured it in November. It was the first major town to fall to anti-junta forces in Tanintharyi Region, and one of their few territorial gains across the country last year.

These pictures were published in in February.

18/05/2026

As he empties fragments of his thigh bone from a pot into his palm, Mohammed Yasin explains the symbolism of the four shards. At first, they were a keepsake from the doctor who operated on him, something for his children in case the bullet killed him. Then they became proof of the Myanmar military’s genocidal campaign that drove them here, to the world’s largest refugee settlement in south-east Bangladesh, nine years ago.

“Every day I worry about kidnapping,” he says. “They come in black cars, sometimes rickshaws. They just take people. We don’t know who they are.”

The Rohingya remain in limbo — denied citizenship on both sides of the Myanmar-Bangladesh border.

Food rations have been cut. Gangs and militant groups operate freely, kidnapping, extorting, torturing, killing, and ra**ng refugees – and in some cases forcing them into Myanmar’s civil war.

Some of those gangs are Rohingya themselves.

Yasin feels a lift when hearing the fiery rhetoric of militants vowing to fight for their return. He imagines himself as a mason again in his home village. “But then I look around,” he says. “They have no strategy.”

Like many here, his hopes are fading. “I don’t see a future where we return.”

Out yesterday on our first story from Cox's Bazar
Words by
My photos
Additional reporting by and Ro Zeen Kyi

12/05/2026

I've been invited to speak about my work in Northeast Syria at the international seminar "Syria, Whiter Transition?" at Turin University on June 11-12.

I'll focus on the integration of the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) into the Syrian Army, drawing on fieldwork conducted in Northeast Syria before and after the January 2026 collapse of the initial integration agreement.

The integration of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) into the Syrian Army is one of the most contested issues in the ongoing negotiations between Damascus and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). While the transitional authorities in Damascus appear reluctant to incorporate a women-only armed formation, the YPJ leadership frames its continued existence as a non-negotiable condition of any settlement. This tension reflects not only a disagreement over the restructuring of the Syrian Army, but also deeper divergences regarding gender and political identity.

I don't talk about it often (it mostly confuses people, lol) but before going into full-time freelance journalism I worked in academic research. It's gonna be fun to step back into a university classroom for the first time in six years.

In the picture: sunrise over Raqqa, November 2025.

26/04/2026

From the archive: Members of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) undergo military training at a YPJ academy in Hasakah, northeast Syria, November 2025.

The integration of the YPJ into the Syrian army remains an open issue, said Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of northeast Syria’s External Relations Department, following a meeting in Damascus last week. The meeting brought together Ahmed, Syrian Democratic Forces Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi, and the head of Syrian Interim Government Ahmad al-Sharaa.

“Although no new result has been reached regarding the YPJ, the issue remains on the agenda,” she told Hawar News Agency (ANHA). “Discussions on formalizing the YPJ are still ongoing within the interim government’s agenda and will continue until an agreement is reached.”

w/ photo

25/04/2026

On Dhaka’s industrial outskirts, Fazila Antora wakes at dawn in the room she shares with her husband and five-year-old son. The war in Iran is nearly 4,000 kilometers away, but its reach is felt in every part of her life.

Food and energy costs are climbing, and power cuts have become a fixture of daily life, at home and on the factory floor, where her targets don’t pause for the blackouts.

“When the power goes out, my child gets sad. He can’t sleep. Without a fan, none of us can sleep,” says the 26-year-old. Working six days a week, she earns 16,000 taka a month – around €110.

Bangladesh’s garment industry – the economic backbone of the country and the supply chain behind H&M, Zara, and Primark – employs millions of workers like Fazila. It was already under pressure before the conflict. Now their livelihoods hang in the balance.

Across Dhaka, the pressure is visible on the streets. At fuel stations, queues stretch onto main roads. Drivers wait for hours, sometimes overnight, sleeping in their cars in the hope of securing petrol the next day.

As one union leader told us: “If this war does not end soon, Bangladesh’s textile industry could be seriously damaged, and millions of workers, mostly women, could lose their jobs.”

Words by
My photos/videos
For
photo

1. Fazila Antora in her home. The family saves energy in every possible way, but the energy crisis has made their finances and future uncertain.
2. Workers at NK Leather Goods on the outskirts of Dhaka.
3. The traffic on the outskirts of Dhaka is even more chaotic as the energy crisis drives many to frantically search for fuel.
4. Power outages have become increasingly common in Dhaka lately. Some shops and street food stalls have generators, but fuel is becoming increasingly scarce.
5. Motorbikes and cars queue to refuel at a gas station in Dhaka. The struggle for fuel will grow harsher the longer the crisis continues.
6. A driver sleeps in his car while waiting for fuel delivery at a petrol station in Dhaka.
7. Motorbike drivers push their bikes at a gas station in Dhaka.
8/9. Drivers queue to refuel at a gas station in Dhaka.
10. A view of Dhaka amid the energy crisis.

16/04/2026

Wadyla, a member of Northeast Syria's Asayish (Internal Security Forces), poses for a portrait in Qamishli, Northeast Syria, February 15, 2026.
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01/04/2026

In a house on the outskirts of Kurdish-run Qamishli, three fighters prepare tea near an empty swimming pool.

“This war was intense, but we resisted with all our forces,” says Ararat, 28. “In the end, we withdrew because of the agreement.” She still takes shifts with her comrades to stand watch over the road from the roof. “They have betrayed us before, so we do not trust the calm.”

In recent months, I traveled twice to Northeast Syria to report on the integration of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces into the new Syrian Army, focusing on the future of the Women's Protection Units (YPJ).

“During the negotiations, maintaining a women’s army was a red line,” said Ruksan Mohammed, spokesperson for the YPJ, in an interview at the YPJ headquarters in Hasakah. While praising the agreement, she acknowledged that meaningful integration will require further negotiation. “The region is facing change,” she said. “But we believe that our work as YPJ will continue.”

Today, YPJ Commanders Rohilat Afrin and Sozdar Haci arrived in Damascus to meet officials from the Syrian transitional government.

For Ararat and her comrades, the stakes are existential. From their new positions, they continue to scan the horizon. Their rifles remain within arm’s reach.

Part 3 of my report for
Thanks and photo

24/03/2026

In recent months, I traveled twice to Northeast Syria to report on the integration of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces into the new Syrian Army, focusing on the future of the Women's Protection Units.

In November, we got rare access to an underground tunnel near the Tishrin dam, in Aleppo province.

From the tunnel, 23-year-old Shilan surveyed the frontline. Despite a March 2025 ceasefire, local tensions were simmering and her unit was clashing with militias aligned with Damascus.

“For us it is hard to trust them,” said Shilan, a commander who fought IS in Raqqa. “Even if al-Sharaa took Assad’s position, this does not mean that he is better than him – he is even worse.”

Burned trees and rubble marked the tunnel entrance. Inside, photographs of fallen comrades adorned the walls beside piles of thick blankets. Rifles leaned nearby.

“They are not going to accept women as a separate power,” Shilan added. “If that is the case, we will not accept them either.”

Despite the ceasefire, Shilan and her comrades rarely ventured outside, wary of drones overhead. There had been several ceasefire violations, with each side blaming the other.

The fragile deal unfolds amid a complex web of armed factions and international interests. The Syrian Democratic Forces was the U.S. main local partner in the campaign against IS, receiving weapons, training and air support as Kurdish-led forces spearheaded ground operations that dismantled the extremist group’s territorial “caliphate”.

That relationship now appears to be changing, amid growing anger in Northeast Syria over what many see as abandonment.

Turkey, meanwhile, backs Damascus-aligned militias hostile to Kurdish forces.

The new authorities in Damascus present a moderate image internationally, while reportedly enforcing gender segregation and restrictions on women and minorities in areas they control.

Part 2 of my report for
Thanks photo