UP20 – Unpublished Photo presents twenty-four works by six young talents of international contemporary photography. This is the first stage of a new project, which over the next few years will constitute a true archive of contemporary photography in Lugano. MUSEC thus intends to expand and consolidate its vocation towards contemporary photography and the history of photography developed and affirmed since 2005 with the “Esovisioni” research and exhibition cycle. The project is promoted by MUSEC and the Culture and Museums Foundation of Lugano, in collaboration with 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS Gallery of Milan, to which we owe the creation of the award of the same name, which since 2018 has been attracting young talents of photography from all over the world. With the 2020 edition, the Museo delle Culture wants to consolidate the initiative, giving it an institutional framework and a medium to long-term development perspective, which among other things will lead in 2021 to the restart of the International Prize, after the pause imposed this year by the pandemic. The exhibition presents to the public the winners of the 2018 and 2019 editions of the Unpublished Photo Prize.
Unpublished Photo intends to signal internationally the main trends in young art photography, constituting in Lugano a true archive of contemporary photography, which will find space alongside the 19th-century photographic collection and the collection of photography of Exoticism that MUSEC already possesses. The project also aims to improve cultural interaction between Switzerland and Italy, offering an authoritative platform for international collecting. In this way, the discovery and valorisation of new trends and new languages will interconnect Lugano and Milan as privileged and prominent showcases for emerging talents in international art photography.
Farnaz Damnabi (1994) is an Iranian photographer born in Tehran. After graduating in Graphic Design, she began a freelance career that led her to join the National Iranian Photographers’ Society (NIPS) as an ordinary member. Her participation in international exhibitions earned her numerous prizes and awards. Winner of Unpublished Photo 2019, she lives and works in Tehran. Farnaz Damnabi presents a series of shots entitled ‘Playing is in my right’. The poetic reportage set in the villages of Golestan province highlights the importance of carefree childhood even in the most adverse contexts.
Gabriel Guerra Bianchini (1984) is a Cuban photographer originally from Havana. He was the first artist to exhibit outdoors on the most important square in the Cuban capital, the cathedral square, on the occasion of the 498th anniversary of the place of worship. A self-taught artist, Gabriel Guerra Bianchini has worked for prestigious international festivals of visual arts, film and music. Winner of Unpublished Photo 2018, he lives and works in Cuba. With his series “The Isolated Island” Gabriel Guerra Bianchi illustrates the utopian search for a horizon and hope in a sea of clouds.
Jian Luo (1978) is a Chinese photographer originally from Lialong Province. He began his career in the documentary genre, working for over a decade as a photojournalist for the press and publishing industry. After leaving China, he moved to France where he began a new path marked by a deep interest in the cultural transformations produced by the increasingly globalising geopolitical dynamics. Winner of Unpublished Photo 2019, he currently lives and works between Paris and Beijing.
Jian Luo’s “Deep reed” series provides an intense observation of traditional religious life in Tibet, focusing on the colour red as a representation of the sacredness, chastity and perseverance of Tibetan Buddhism.
Gabriele Milani (1986) is an Italian photographer from Livorno, he studied photography at the IED in Milan. Having completed his training, he returned to Livorno attracted by the multifaceted historical and cultural heritage of his city, to the point of making it a cornerstone of his research. In his poetics, ancient art merges with modern art, in a combination of forms and designs that span the centuries. Winner of Unpublished Photo 2018, he lives and works in Livorno.
Gabriele Milani’s black and white shots deal with the theme of the tattoo as a form of bodily modification and as an element of redefinition of the aesthetic canon: an encounter between nature and culture.
Matteo Piacenti (2001) is an Italian photographer originally from Viterbo, he became passionate about photography when he was only thirteen years old thanks to a friendship with a group of local amateur photographers. Much of his work is dedicated to creating images capable of highlighting the essential moment captured in events and glances, recounting human beings and the different expressions of their actions with profound spontaneity. Winner of Unpublished Photo 2019, he currently lives in Nepi (VT) and works in nearby Rome.
With “Irrational but Conscious”, Matteo Piacenti proposes the story of a young generation, distracted and disinterested in art, forced to work and deprived of education and culture; a story in which the subject emerges from the deepest darkness and gradually comes to life in a bright ray of hope.
Francesco Soave (1988) is an Italian photographer from Verona. He graduated in architecture in Milan and then moved to South America for work, travelling extensively and combining his work as a photographer with that of an architect. A long stay in Chile led him to shoot his first reportage in the Atacama Desert.
In 2017, he continued his photographic journey in South-East Asia, focusing on ancient traditions in the process of being historicised and on the socio-cultural context of small communities grappling daily with the effects of globalisation. The portfolio Stories from South-East Asia expresses the search for the deep essence of countries such as Indonesia, Burma and Thailand, in the thousand facets of an eternal everyday. Winner of Unpublished Photo 2018, he lives and works in Thailand.
