Sons of the Sun
2021 - ongoing
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
Full project available upon request: carolacappellari.hello@gmail.com
Dressmaker
2021 - ongoing
We all play different roles in life. Rossella Bessega, born near Venice, Italy, in August 1966, has so far been a daughter, sister, wife, mother, and, for as long as I can remember, a dressmaker.
Born from a desire to bring order to years of fragmented dialogue and unspoken thoughts, "Dressmaker" is a collaboration started in 2021 between my mother and me, where photography, video, text, performance, and embroidery allow us to move beyond the conventional image of motherhood and affirm her chosen identity: that of the dressmaker.
For my mother, making clothes transcends mere necessity; it was, and still is, an act of self-expression. The humming of the sewing machine is vividly etched in my childhood’s memory, as are her quiet words saying that she felt more like a dressmaker than a mother.
By wearing the clothes she created over time, and by bringing photography into her daily life, we begin to inhabit each other's languages and craft. Embroidery and performance become ways to rework both past and present. Through the process, I am no longer only a daughter, and she is no longer only a mother. We are a photographer and a dressmaker.
Dressmaker challenges idealised narratives of motherhood and aims to open space for women, and especially mothers, to reclaim the complexity of their identities beyond caregiving, and in doing so, celebrate the strength and complexity of being a woman.
For further info please contact me at carolacappellari.hello@gmail.com
Installation view
‘GRANDA’ curated by Antonio Grulli & Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia (MUVE)
Bevilacqua La Masa Gallery, St. Mark Square, Venice, Italy
04.10.2025 - 23.11.2025
© Photo credits: Giacomo Bianco
Familia
from latin
familia (household)
2020
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.
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.
Installation view
Tirana Photo Festival
Tirana, Albania
2024
Tirana Photo Festival
Tirana, Albania
2024
Online Edition
Fringe Art Bath Festival
Bath, UK
2020
Fringe Art Bath Festival
Bath, UK
2020
Almost Blue
2019
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
Portrait of Our Times - A Collection of Modern Realities
Gower St. Gallery, London, UK
January - February 2020
Installation view
United in Lights, by Wren Agency
Wimbledon Park, London, UK
December 2022
United in Lights, by Wren Agency
Wimbledon Park, London, UK
December 2022
Installation view
Final Degree Show
London College of Communication
July 2019
Final Degree Show
London College of Communication
July 2019
Press | Publications
Auto
portraits
portraits
2014 - ongoing
Exhibitions
‘Auto retratos’ - solo show
Mostra de Fotografia e Autores
Biblioteca de Sao Lazaro
2024
‘Auto retratos’ - solo show
Mostra de Fotografia e Autores
Fabrica de Cerveja, Faro
2024
Light Land - Una luce per la ricerca
Casa degli Artisti, PERIMETRO, Milan
2022
Casa degli Artisti, PERIMETRO, Milan
2022
Introspezioni
Mo.Sto, Milan
2022
Mo.Sto, Milan
2022
