Photography and Artificial Intelligence
There is always a moment when an image is born: sometimes from the light passing through a lens, other times from the silent calculation of an algorithm. My research lies in that uncertain boundary where reality and fiction brush against each other and blur. For me, Artificial Intelligence is an invisible interlocutor: capable of expanding – or distorting – our gaze. On this page I speak about my projects, exhibitions, and thoughts born from the encounter between light, memory, and code.
Walter Benjamin, reflecting on art in the age of mechanical reproduction, wondered whether the aura was destined to vanish; today we might ask ourselves whether the algorithm is creating a new aura, made of suggestion and simulacrum.
Alongside my work as a documentary photographer (see my biographical notes), I carry with me a background that began long ago: as a young man I studied computer science, graduating in Information Science at the University of Bologna. This double gaze – both technical and visual – has allowed me over the years to follow closely technological innovations, especially those related to the image, making me feel part of a dialogue that intertwines disciplines that might seem distant.
Since 2023, with the advent of TTI (text-to-image) software such as Midjourney, I have also been working with Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, I chose to keep this body of work clearly distinct, so as not to confuse those who follow my documentary work, which is rooted in the real world and in the urgency of bearing witness. Where photography is anchored in Barthes’ notion of the “that-has-been” AI instead moves in the territory of “what-could-have-been”: a hypothetical dimension, one that opens creative scenarios but also raises ethical questions.
In recent years, I have written articles and given interviews on the use of artificial intelligence, seeking to investigate both its potential and its risks. I have also led workshops and spaces for discussion and sharing experiences, doubts, and possibilities. I believe that the role of the artist today is to inhabit the threshold: not to choose between tradition and innovation, but to make both into living matter for reflection and for image.
PROJECTS
Broken Mirror
This project was created using artificial intelligence, visually recalling the aesthetics of classic documentary photography. Through metaphor, the work narrates the North Korean dictatorship and the propaganda that governs the lives of its citizens, while at the same time suggesting a broader reflection: the alien element that infiltrates people’s everyday lives, altering identity, self-perception, and modes of communication and relationships, can be read as a representation of the invasive and controlling nature of technology — a vision that also questions our own future.He looks like you
A project that weaves together family photographs, collages, graphic interventions, and AI-generated images to give shape to the encounter that never took place between my father Giorgio and my son Ulisse. The result is an imaginary family album, in which reality and fiction overlap, transforming absence into presence and offering a possible form of solace.The Ravenous Machine
A project exploring the “insatiable hunger” for data of artificial intelligence (AI), trained through the labeling and descriptions of the data that make up datasets. These activities are often carried out unwittingly by internet users, who are given tests sweetened with graphics and elements such as kittens, giving the impression of performing something harmless. Through photographs, video frames, AI-generated images, and graphic interventions, I explored how systems designed for the security of users and web services (e.g., reCAPTCHA) in fact also contribute to improving AI-based systems, such as autonomous driving technologies, but also in the military field (for obstacle recognition or target identification by war drones). This creates a short circuit between what is supposed to serve protection and security and what instead exploits human abilities to train this new technology; between what serves to distinguish a human being from a bot and what instead helps bots imitate humans, ever more accurately and alarmingly. From all this arise critical issues regarding ethics, transparency, the unwitting exploitation of people, and our future.AI and Prejudice
A project that provocatively reflects on the gender algorithmic biases embedded in artificial intelligence. The starting point is an investigation carried out by The Guardian, showing how images of women in completely ordinary contexts — from exercising to motherhood — are disproportionately labeled as “indecent” compared to those of men. AI thus reveals itself not as a neutral tool, but as a reflection and amplifier of social gender inequalities.Tear-anny
The title playfully fuses the words tear and tyranny in a series of images created with text-to-image (TTI) software, exploring the contrast between political authority, intimacy, and human emotional expression. Inspired by the work of British artist Alison Jackson and using artificial intelligence, I represented political leaders in private moments, away from the spotlight. These iconic faces, often perceived as impenetrable and resolute, are transposed into a visual language that suggests inner conflicts stemming from the weight of decisions that made them symbols of rights or oppression.
EXHIBITIONS
In 2023 I was selected by the Photo Vogue Festival, an event where I was also a speaker with a talk entitled ‘Broken Mirror'. A dystopian guide to crossing the border’. In 2024 I was exhibited in the major exhibition Pixel Perceptions: Into the Eye of AI, which brought together an international selection of the most interesting visual artists working with artificial intelligence and explored how this new technology affects, consciously and unconsciously, our perception of the world.
2025, The Ravenous Machine – Tbilisi (GE), Kolga Tbilisi Photo
2025, Broken Mirror – Napoli, Napoli Photo Festival
2025, Broken Mirror – Wiesbaden (DE), Wiesbaden Photo Days 2025
2025, Broken Mirror – Maranello, Congresso FIAF
2025, Broken Mirror – Milano, Mia Photo Fair
2025, Broken Mirror – Berlin (DE), Parallel Realities, Kommunale Galerie Berlin
2025, Broken Mirror – Roma, Centro Sperimentale di Fotografia Adams
2024, Broken Mirror – Colleferro (Roma), Cosmo Photo Fest
2024, Broken Mirror – Otranto (Lecce), Fase Festival
2024, Broken Mirror – San Felice sul Panaro (Modena), FotoIncontri Festival
2024, He Looks Like You – Paola (Cosenza), Fotografia Calabria Festival
2024, He Looks Like You – Groningen (NL), Pixel Perceptions: Into the Eye of AI
2023, Broken Mirror – Tbilisi (GE), Kolga Tbilisi Photo
2023, Broken Mirror – Bologna, PhMuseum Days
2023, Broken Mirror – Verzasca (CH), Verzasca Foto Festival
2023, Broken Mirror – Jakarta (ID), Jakarta International Photography Festival
2023, Broken Mirror – Piacenza, Photo’23 Foto-Sintesi
2023, Broken Mirror – Milano, PhotoVogue Festival
WORKSHOP & PUBLIC TALKS
Over the years I have been invited to hold workshops, talks, and lectures in some of the most important Italian photography festivals and institutions. My projects on the dialogue between photography and artificial intelligence have been presented at New York University in Florence, MIA Photo Fair in Milan, Fotografia Calabria Festival, Napoli Photo Festival, SISF Italian Society for the Study of Photography, Riaperture Festival in Ferrara, the Festival of Ethical Photography in Lodi and Photo Vogue Festival. I have also collaborated with FIAF, ANFM, CNA Emilia Romagna, and various cultural associations and photography clubs across Italy. Alongside these events, I have given guest lectures and radio interviews, such as on POLI.RADIO (the student radio of the Politecnico of Milan), contributing to a broader public debate on the creative and ethical implications of new technologies in the visual arts.
PUBLICATIONS AND INTERVIEWS
In recent years, my work and reflections on the relationship between photography and artificial intelligence have been published and discussed in leading national and international magazines and journals. I have written and given interviews for specialized publications such as Gente di Fotografia, FotoIT, and Civiltà dei Dati, as well as for generalist and visual culture magazines including D La Repubblica, Marie Claire and Class Magazine. Internationally, my work has been featured by outlets such as Haaretz and Bird in Flight, and also presented in Internazionale and Cult Magazine, contributing to a critical debate on the potential and risks of new technologies applied to art and imagery.