I have never walked the streets of Syria. Those who were born there tell me that Gaziantep, Turkey, somehow reminds them of home. During my three years living in Gaziantep, the Syrian youth gradually became my community. It was there that I met Mustafa, Sondos, Duah, Michael, and Hamza, and learned their similar stories of being forced to flee their homes in Syria as teenagers and slowly build new lives in Turkey.

Like them, thousands of young Syrian refugees in Turkey have been facing the challenges that come with growing up in a country that, despite not being too far from their motherland, still requires learning a new language and adapting to a different cultural and bureaucratic system. Not least, the temporary protection provided to Syrian nationals by the Government of Turkey is not without its limitations, often reducing their possibilities of studying, working, and moving across cities and thus hindering their future.

Together, we started a collaborative project where art and photography pave the way for them to reclaim their stories, life experiences, and identities. Through this project, we are creating a new reality - one where borders, legal statuses, and definitions give way to memories, dreams, and hope.

Gaziantep, Turkey, 2021 - 2024

In the late 1930s, American photographer William Gruber was fascinated with a Victorian optical device that created an illusion of 3-D using two side-by-side photographs. A fortunate meeting between Harold Graves and William Gruber a decade later originated the View-Master, a portable stereoscope depicting scenes worldwide that could be held in one’s hands.

From Oregon to Australia, all the way to the Middle East, thousands of children for the following decades would have projected their memories and dreams on photographic projections seen through a pair of View-masters.

It was not different for Mustafa, Sondos, Duah, Michael, and Hamza, for whom images of pilgrims traveling to Mecca, tourists gathering in old Damascus, and distant views of landscapes and mountains are now reminders of a childhood in Syria long gone.

Irene, an Italian student, and Mustafa, a Syrian refugee, fell in love in their 20s while volunteering at the same youth organization in Gaziantep. As their relationship grew, they began envisioning a shared future. But their plans were threatened by migration policies that could potentially keep them apart. Despite the obstacles, Irene and Mustafa decided to marry as the only viable legal solution to avoid being separated.

Mustafa and Irene’s wedding ceremony took place in Gaziantep, surrounded by the warmth and support of their friends and the local community. Following their marriage, Irene and Mustafa navigated through bureaucratic procedures to secure family reunification in Europe. Ultimately, they overcame their challenges and settled in Bologna, Italy, ready to build a life together.

“My family has a house and a country to live in, but not a home. Even if my family and people are in Turkey, I don’t belong there.  Perhaps, one day, Italy will be home”  

Mustafa, 2022

“Syrians are currently displaced everywhere and I believe, whether here, in Syria or somewhere else, all of us are living the same life and experiencing the same difficulties. This is why I dream my music can be heard all over the world”

Mahmood, aka Michael, 2023

“I may need another ten years before I will be able to establish a career in music, but I am confident I will, soon or later. As we say in Arabic, you sacrifice from your mouth to make your dreams real.
You have two choices: either you just survive, or you work hard for your dreams”

Mahmood, aka Michael, 2023

We all play different roles in life. Rossella Bessega, born near Venice, Italy, in 1966, so far, has been a daughter, sister, wife, and mother to my sister and I.

"Dressmaker" is a collaboration between my mother and I, where photography and performance attempt to free her from the confines of traditional motherhood, enabling her to carve out her own identity through her chosen vocation: that of the dressmaker.

For my mother, making clothes transcends mere necessity; it represents a potent means of self-expression and identity. The sound of the sewing machine humming in the background as I grew up is etched vividly in my memory, as are her words saying that she would find herself more in her identity as a dressmaker than in her role as a mother.

Drawing from my mother’s journey, "Dressmaker" aims to create a space that transcends narratives portraying motherhood as a socially constructed norm, to instead create a space where mothers, and by extension all women, can assert and celebrate their individuality beyond the confinements of traditional caregiving.

Familia explores the meaning of family in a migratory context, in particular the one relating to London, where I have been living for more than five years.

With the increasing rental cost of houses in London, situations where unrelated people share the same house or families rent part of their homes to strangers have become more and more common. These coexistences create new dynamics, where intimacy and trust are built day by day, the concept of privacy is revisited and the whole idea of coexistence is discussed.

While the series initially questioned how the city changes the traditional family pattern in relation to different households, it slowly took on a more personal connotation, becoming an occasion for me to reflect on my relationship with the Rule family, with whom I have lived for more than a year, and on the meaning that similar realities can assume in the search for a sense of belonging to new places.

Alternating fiction and reality, I tried to portray and understand that new reality of which I had become part, an 'artificial family', halfway between a cohabitation of strangers and a traditional family coexistence. The process has inevitably left space for a personal reflection on the detachment I experienced from my family back home in Italy and, more generally, on the different possibilities of intending a family.

2020

Installation view

Tirana Photo Festival

Tirana, Albania

2024

Online Edition

Fringe Art Bath Festival

Bath, UK  

2020

Almost Blue

2019

Although feelings of anxiety are normal everyday occurrences, continuous and overwhelming worry can turn into chronic and disabling anxiety. Deeply misunderstood, talking about the condition is made difficult by the widespread consideration of anxiety as something that can be easily overcome, an attitude that can lead individuals to hide their feelings and avoid seeking help.

At a time when universities worldwide are reporting an increasing number of students experiencing anxiety disorders, Almost Blue draws on personal experience and psychological findings to prompt conversation on our society's lack of understanding of the condition, while also emphasising the possibility of psychological resilience.

Resilience is often assumed to be an innate trait that only certain individuals possess. Recent studies however have demonstrated how this ability can be learned and improved throughout our life in all the areas in which it manifests: the personal, the relationships, and the community.

With this series, I draw on cognitive therapy techniques to metaphorically reconstruct a personal path of recovery.
I re-enact dynamics of everyday life and personal relationships, to eventually prompt viewers to share their own stories of mental health, resonating with the theories that describe hearing inspiring stories of others as a key strategy to build resilience.

Installation view

Portrait of Our Times - A Collection of Modern Realities

Gower St. Gallery, London, UK

January - February 2020

Installation view

Final Degree Show

London College of Communication 

July 2019