Francesco Casalenuovo

Born in Southern Italy (b. 1975) and working between London, Italy and China, I am a multidisciplinary visual artist spanning photography, painting, and video.
My artistic trajectory was shaped early alongside my father, an architect, archaeologist and Superintendent of Cultural Heritage in Calabria. Accompanying him on digs with international teams, I began documenting newly unearthed artifacts using a 120mm film camera. Capturing ancient relics as they met the light after centuries underground deeply shaped my perception of time, texture and visual memory.
This foundational focus on history led to visual planning and photography for historical volumes with New Print (Rome) and Archeoclub d'Italia, documenting Southern Italy's rich heritage. My practice later expanded into performance photography, capturing the fluid, dynamic energy of theatre, opera and ballet across Italy.
Today, my work investigates the continuous tension between chaos, agony and calm. Through mixed media, photography and moving image, surfaces undergo a conceptual metamorphosis, blending the raw, sun-bleached warmth of my Mediterranean roots with a minimalist, contemporary edge. I aim to create emotionally layered compositions that invite quiet, immersive cont...

Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) | Rome, Italy — Photography Studies

Self-Taught — Painting, Mixed Media & Videography