Heimatkunde, 1993-1995
Heimat is a German word that describes a feeling of belonging to a social, cultural and geographical context. Heimatkunde, literally translated as the knowledge of Heimat, is composed of the journal I made between the age of 8 and 10 and explores my childhood world starting with the individual, expanding to the family, friends, classroom, social structure and immediate geography up to the environment, animals and plants, and local history. It is an invitation to map your own geographical and conceptual elements of the place we live in, by creating a personal, multi-layerded vision of our local dimension.
The Crusade of the League, 2001-ongoing
The Crusade of the League is a collection of stories of Islamic communities based in the north of Italy that face the opposition of local governments lead by politician from the League party. The project takes the form of photographs of articles from local newspapers which recount various episodes, starting with the one regarding the Islamic community of Treviso, The Sheriff and the Travelling Mosque.
Hidden Islam, 2009-2013
Despite being the second religious confession in Italy, with an estimate of 1.5 million adepts, Islam is still formally not recognised by the state. This fact coupled with the political exploitation by populist and far-right parties, brings the Islamic community to officially own only a dozen mosques, none of which located in the north-east of Italy. Hidden Islam works as cadastral catalogue of typologies of approximately 100 buildings used by local Islamic communities, like warehouses, basements, shops and garages, printed in b/w on gatefold pages containing color images of the interiors.
479 Comments, 2014
479 Comments aims to take the discussion initiated by Hidden Islam further. This workbook charts the topographic locations of the Islamic makeshift places of worship present in the initial book along with a vivid discussion which appeared on British newspaper The Guardian in response to an article featuring the project.
Prison Photography, 2013-2018
Prison Photography is a compendium of photographic exercises made by my students during the photography class I taught at the Penal Institution of Bolzano – Bozen, Italy, from 2013 – 2018. The limits naturally set on photography by an isolated location such as a prison is the key point around which the entire course was based. Divided into various chapters dedicated to different photographic techniques, the book encourages the reader to reflect on two things: the role of photography itself and the attempt to escape from the monotony of prison life.
Peak, 2013-2017
Peak documents the Dolomites, originally known as the pale mountains. The book meditates upon the dualism between apex and nadir and the constant alternation of both. By folding double sided prints, each spread becomes a juxtaposition of two separate peaks, each joining to the next one and forming a cycle, from night to day, from summer to winter, and back.
blue as gold, 2017
Using a dialectical approach, images taken from the web depicting migrants on their way towards Europe are shown in their positive version and also converted into negative. This turns the blue of the sea into its opposing colour, creating a golden background.
Hämatli & Patriæ, 2017
The group-exhibition, which interpreted the German concept of Heimat, the sense of belonging to a place, and the Latin concept of patria, homeland, in the light of current events in Europe, was conceived as a large-scale mise-en-scene of a painting from 1570 by Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat by Simon de Myle, which depicts the landing rather than the departure of the ark, as is usually represented in artworks. Issues such as migration, nationalism, populism and identity were represented in the form of dialogues inspired by the human figures, animals, objects and situations in the painting.