Dark, Cryptic, Sometimes Gruesome — the Visual Epiphanies of Francesco Merlini
Ciao Francesco, how are you?
Ciao! I’m quite fine, a bit tired and busy but it’s a good thing to be.
What is photography for you?
For me photography is a journey of discovery with myself as a destination. Taking pictures allows me to think about, materialize and show my perception of reality and the visual epiphanies that strike me while looking at the world.
What is Farang about?
Farang is a series of pictures taken in Italy, France, Turkey, Thailand, and Kosovo over three years. As the title suggests [Farang is Thai for everything coming from the Western world], for this project I worked out of my “comfort zone”: the link between the images is they were all taken in circumstances that were alien to me. Reality and my emotional and visual inner landscapes mold together to create a personal interpretation and narration of things, places and people, transforming something that is extraneous to me into something that speaks of me. The flash of the camera has consecrated these small revelations, impressing the shroud that lies on the subjects whose truth I’ve discarded. This is why I consider these images as relics of something invisible.
Where can you be found online?
At my site, and on Instagram.