The Artisans

Babel is a project by Stefano De Luigi, an Italian photographer born in Cologne and based in Montreuil, France, and Michela Battaglia, a Palermo-born photographer with a background in Modern Philology and a degree from New York’s International Center of Photography. Through layered digital manipulations, Babel merges Paris Metro billboard ads and Daesh propaganda images, reflecting on the clash between Western identity loss and radical ideology. The result invites deep reflection on our role in a changing world.

An internationally recognized visual artist, researcher, and National Geographic Fellow, Davide Monteleone’s interdisciplinary work includes image-making, visual journalism, and writing. He lived in Russia for ten years, where he produced his early series and four critically acclaimed monographs. A contributor to magazines such as Time, National Geographic, and The New Yorker, Monteleone’s work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums, including the Saatchi Gallery (London), the Nobel Peace Center (Oslo), the MEP (Paris), and Palazzo Delle Esposizioni (Rome).

Reflecting upon reality and its various manifestations, photographer Carlo Matteo Golia began his career with the project "Fuori Orario" exhibited at the Toselli Gallery in Milan, Italy. Inspired by other contemporary artists, notably Marisa Merz, Lisa Ponti, and Giorgio Colombo, his works exude a distinctive pop style that explores different perspectives of mundane or daily life. Golia’s projects have been critically acclaimed and published internationally.

Born in Genova in 1974, Raffaele Canepa was first introduced to analog photography as a child by his father. After a twenty-year-long career as a film producer, he started experimenting with infrared light (IR) and architecture, particularly how light responds to different materials and light conditions. Between 2015 and 2018 he produced two extensive series on Milan’s and Rome’s iconic buildings. His travels across the Middle East, South America, and Central and Eastern Asia focus on architecture and minimal landscapes, cultivating his passion for infrared photography.

Landscape photographer, nature guide, and professor of photography, Emilio Messina is a Sicilian-based artist dedicated to exploring the island’s little-known and uncontaminated places. His shots and articles have been published in newspapers, books, and magazines such as “Le Montagne Incantate” (National Geographic) and “Le Vie dei Tesori” magazines. His works have been featured in solo and group photographic exhibitions as well as ad campaigns and TV shows. He is also a co-author of “Borghi di Sicilia” (Dario Flaccovio Editore) and “Sicilia Vulcanica” (Moroni Editore).

Born in Empoli in 1955 and now based in Castelfiorentino, Antonio D’Ambrosio has been capturing fragments of space and time through his photographs since 1978. In 1982, he joined the “Giglio Rosso '' photography club in Castelfiorentino, which he presided over between 1984 and 2007. He collaborates with both private and public institutions on catalogs, books, and documents celebrating local architectural-environmental heritage. French critic J.C. Lemagny selected some of his photos and registered them in the prints and photography sections at the National Library of France.

Piero Mollica's shots evoke early twentieth-century photography when the newly invented technique was preparing to abandon naturalism to access the languages of the most advanced modernist painting. Piero Mollica's technique is based on Fine Art and the focus is on the basic relationship between the subject and the construction of habitable space. Mollica's research consists in transforming the image, starting from the conscious renunciation of its immediate description.

Photographer Carlo D’Orta has been capturing bits and pieces of the world with his camera for over forty years. Between 2002-2012 he studied contemporary art and painting at the Rome University of Fine Arts and received a Master’s degree in Photography at the IED Institute in Milan. His photos are characterized by a bold pictorial influence and focus on architecture, landscape, dance, and portraits. He has presented solo exhibits around the world, notably “Beyond the Lens” in Venice in 2015 and the National Museum of Singapore in 2017.

Born and raised in Milan, Valentina Sommariva is a multi-hyphenate photographer. After receiving her Architecture Degree and studying Design at Brunel University in London, she attended the Contemporary Image master's course at Fondazione Fotografia Modena (2012-2014). She is also a member of the Italian Chartered Institute of Journalists, specializing in portraits, catalogs, interior design, and ad campaigns. She has exhibited her works worldwide and has been published by The Guardian, AD Italia, Financial Times, Elle Decor Italia, Holland, and Russia.

Giuseppe Lo Schiavo is an award-winning visual artist currently living and working between London and Milan. AI, machine learning, infrared systems, and virtual reality are all featured in his works, which are often focused on creation-destruction, past-future, and analog-digital. Winner of the European project BioArt Challenge, his current research on art and synthetic biology is supported by MUSE, Cardiff, and Zurich Universities. Museums and galleries worldwide hosted his works, also published on BBC, Vice, Inside Art, and Elle Decor, among others.

Giulio Boem is an Italian photographer who documents art, design, and architecture with impressive style. After graduating from the DAMS in Bologna specializing in public photographic archives, he began collaborating with numerous public and private institutions on editorial projects and digital fine-art printing. His collections have been acquired by Goldman Sachs, Unipol, and Ferragamo Lungarno Collections, among others.

On the scene since 1967, Santi Caleca worked as a photojournalist for the Palermitan newspaper “L’Ora” before moving to Milan for work. A fortuitous meeting with Casa Vogue’s former editor Isa Vercelloni in 1976 paved the way for a professional evolution, adapting the language of photography to interior design and architecture. His encounter with Ettore Sottsass in 1977 earned him a friendship and collaboration that lasted for over 30 years. Santi Caleca creates press campaigns and catalogs for renowned architecture firms, galleries, and museums worldwide.

Documentary photographer Michela Benaglia’s career is marked by unexpected twists and turns. After completing her undergraduate degree in Industrial Design, she embarked on a ten-year-long stint as an Art Director. She then pursued a Master’s in Reportage, allowing her passion to become her full-time job. Documenting scenes of human life, her photographs are exceptionally powerful in narrative and visual impact.

Massimo Siragusa is a professor at the IED of Rome, a photographer, and an editorial director of Phaos Edizioni. He has exhibited his works in the permanent collections of the Vatican Museums and the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome, among others, and has been published internationally in magazines such as New York Times Magazine, Le Monde, and Marie Claire. He has worked with the most prestigious Italian companies, telling their identity with a singular clean aesthetic.

UNESCO, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Assets and Activities, and the Bangkok Embassy are just a handful of the well-known institutions photographer Luca Capuano has worked with. His projects range from photo essays documenting Italian cultural heritage to shoots and ad campaigns for designer brands such as Artemide, Flos, Piquadro, and Bulgari. His photos have been exhibited at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, Abu Dhabi Nyuad Art Gallery, and Berlin Institut für Architektur, among others. He teaches photography at the Isia Institute of Urbino.

Born in Pescara in 1980, Claudia Ferri views photography as the most sincere lens through which to explore man and places. After many years in Rome, she moved to Milan where she works as a freelancer. Her portraits investigate the physiognomic change from puberty to adolescence, while her contextual photography is focused on how environments change depending on the people who live in them. Gucci, Missoni, Fondazione Prada, Nike, and X Factor are among her clients. Her works were published in Monocle, Konfekt, Esquire, Hunter Magazine, and Vogue, to name a few.

Founded in 1997, Getty Images Gallery is the only gallery with complete access to the Getty Images archive, the largest commercial photography collection in the world with over 80 million images. Getty Images Gallery offers exclusive access to the entire collection of Slim Aarons, whose negatives and transparencies are conserved at the Hulton Archive in London. The team of curators works incessantly to digitalize and retouch the legendary images to the highest quality using the best printing techniques.