Dystopia is a series specifically arranged with the aim to highlight the dystopian aspect of contemporary urban landscapes and the contrast between desertification and urban sprawl. We often crave the future, but if we care to observe our surroundings, we probably realize the future is here and it’s not necessarily enticing.
A personal interpretation of the cities we live in aimed at enhancing the sci-fi facet of modernity. A statement on individuality over dehumanizing multitudes.
An ongoing series and the series around which most of Romero’s body of work revolves. Shot between 2016 and today in Italy, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Scotland, Japan and the United States.
Francesco Romero is a former musician and producer whose current artistic output is photography. Based mostly in Italy where he focuses on themes of absence, decay and isolationism from a graphical and geometric point of view. A fascination with the dystopian aspect of everyday life paired to decontextualized details, landscapes, and architecture, allow the images to stand alone as alien works.
Most of the shots are music inspired, typically from northern electronica, drone music and Detroit / German techno. Other influences come from early US hardcore-punk and Industrial. A consistent part of Romero’s body of work have been featured on the most relevant photography hubs dedicated to minimalism and fine-art photography as well as in a bunch of international exhibitions. Some publications on international independent press agencies are also available. Romero’s first monographic book called DIS- has been released in 2020.
© Text and pictures by Francesco Romero