MP grew up in Santo Domingo, Italy and Puerto Rico. He went to school in Tennessee..
His first photo break came after school in 1982 when he landed a job at the Chattanooga Times. In 1989 he began to explore Cuba, its land, it people, and its complex relationship with the USA. IN 1995 he had his first solo photo show of his work on Cuba and that same year earned him a fellowship grant. On reviewing his exhibit the Washington Post wrote "Manuello Paganelli's Cuban photographs are a brilliant window on a land and people too long hidden from North American eyes, working in the tradition of Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank, Paganelli brings an artist's eyes and a native son's sensibility to his superb photographs." In March 2009 his Black Cowboys documentary was featured at the Annenberg Space for Photography and in 2012 at the prestigious Manege Museum in St Petersburg, Russia.
He is represented by the Weston and the Obscura Gallery.
He lives in LA and Carmel, CA.
