• Francesca Leonardi

Stories

‘O Post Mio – My place

‘O Post Mio is an eight-year photographic work in which I followed the life of Claudia. A woman who, together with her two daughters, occupied an apartment in the Coppola Village for many years. In the 1960s, when the Coppola Village was built, destroying a rich pinewood forest, it was the largest illegal urban agglomeration in Europe. Claudia's life resembles the fate of this pine forest. On her body have been poured flows of violence and marginalization that have transfigured her life. Trough her life I tried to recount how a territory can determine a person’s life. Images of external and internal landscapes are alternated to show the continuity of the unathorized building that enters the life of a family, how these signs affected their choices.

Bed dreams

Thousands of boats land on the Italian coasts and almost all of them on the island of Lampedusa. NGOs estimate that 1 in 4 people lost their lives trying to cross the 81 miles that separate Tunisia from Italy. In recent years, the number of refugees has increased, due to the increase of war and violence in the countries that push their inhabitants out. They dream of a better future and by coming here they become prisoners of the same right of asylum that should have guaranteed them their freedom. They are forced to work without any protection, risking everyday to be reported and forced to return to their country, even if they do not commit crimes.

Portfolio

leonardi_portfolio2021_005 Isabel, a professional belly dancer and teacher dances at home. She used to travel a lot for work. In this past year, Isabel was not disheartened by the inability to travel and physically meet people and almost immediately organized herself to teach from home through online platforms to many students a day. Rome, Italy, 2021
leonardi_portfolio2021_027 Federica and Alessandra listen to neomelodic Neapoletan music. From the project "O Post Mio" Castel Volturno, Caserta, Villaggio Coppola. 2012
leonardi_portfolio2021_020 Donatella Biliotti, 54, in her bedroom. Former employee of the textile factory Mabro that went bankrupt in 2011, she had been working in the factory since 1985. As she joined Mabro she says "I felt like I arrived in America! Since I've left the factory I tried many professional specializing courses, computers, pastry, etc, without finding a job. I have a son of 32 years, which fortunately has an employment. Despite this moment of darkness, I found myself united to my companions of struggle and this has created a great feeling of solidarity that we didn’t have before”. Grosseto, Italy, 2013
leonardi_portfolio2021_021 Emma is a pole dancer, she has a rigorous personal schedule, so she trains several hours on the pole everyday. The pole has become the strongest motivational element in her life. One of the most important, since the lockdown in 2020 when the gym where she used to teach closed down. Emma dances on her own in the morning and teaches to dance students with online platform in the afternoon. This schedule has almost forced her to spend the whole day at home with her two lovely cats. In a suspended reality. Rome, 2021
leonardi_portfolio2021_017 British writer Zadie Smith portrayed during the Internazionale festival in Ferrara. Ferrara, Italy, 2018
leonardi_portfolio2021_024 Rossella, 42, a former employee of Richard Ginori, is portrayed with her 2-year-old son Francesco in her home under the railway line. Rossella had been working in the company since 1995 and she was fired in 2012. "I haven't been able to pay the rent or the bills for 4 months, for 5 days they have turned off the light. My husband is also in trouble, he has not received his salary for 2 months and the construction company he works for is in bankruptcy. Now I am in redundancy until January next year and then I expect mobility for the next two years”. Sesto Fiorentino, Italy, 2013
leonardi_portfolio2021_016 The "bed" of a man who emigrated from Afghanistan inside the planking of a construction site for a new railway line in the train station of Ostiense, in the central area of the city. Roma, Italy. 2009
leonardi_portfolio2021_012 A temporary shelter is seen inside a farmhouse temporarily occupied by refugees working during the watermelon harvesting season. Nardò, Apulia, Italy, 2009
leonardi_portfolio2021_008 An inside view of a shelter inhabited by a political refugee from Eritrea. The area not very far from the historical centre of the capital is occupied primarily by refugees from Ethiopia and Eritrea. Roma, Italy, 2009
leonardi_portfolio2021_002 Father Burniak is portrayed inside his home in the southern outskirts of the city. Father Burniak was for many years the spiritual guide of the Polish community in Italy. "For years I have taken care of the Poles in Italy, nurturing their hopes for a fully free homeland, towards which they felt nostalgia." From the project "Polish Faces". Rome, Italy, 2011.
leonardi_portfolio2021_014 In the Skoda city, a girl is looking out of a bar window. From the project "Night Shift", a project that aims to reflect on the country's state of democracy 20 years after the collapse of communism. Czech Republic.
leonardi_portfolio2021_004 Pawel Rzepczak, Polish, 19, is portrayed in his room in Rome. "I imagine two eagles as symbols of my life: the first represents Poland, the roots, the education I received and that I want to cultivate, while the second proudly depicts my reality today in the eternal city in which I live". From the project "Polish Faces". Rome, Italy, 2014 Rome, October 2014. Pawel Rzepczak, Polish, 19, is portrayed in his room in Rome. “I imagine two eagles as symbols of my life: the first represents Poland, the roots, the education I received and that I want to cultivate, while the second proudly depicts my reality today in the eternal city in which I live. " From the project "Polish Faces”.
leonardi_portfolio2021_015 Boguslawa Bobak arrived in Italy in 2001 alone, looking for a job and a better life for her and her family, leaving three children in Poland. Four years later, when she found a stable job as a caregiver to an old lady, she decided to bring her three children to live with her in Rome: Staszek, Beata and Sylwester. The Bobak family was together again, living in a small shared apartment, in the center of Rome. Trying to fit in a foreign country and a foreign culture, all together. Boguslawa has considered fundamental to keep a connection with her native country so she asked her children to attend the polish school in Rome. Cultivate knowledge of their native language and traditions was a very important aspect of their life, although it was not always easy. Rome, Italy, 2008
leonardi_portfolio2021_009 Colonel Engelbert Bernard Czellnik in his home. From the "Polish Faces" project. Bologna, Italy, 2013
leonardi_portfolio2021_028 Luisa is portrayed inside the home of the lady she assists daily as a caregiver. Luisa lost her job as a shop assistant in a jewelry store when the shop closed for bankruptcy at the end of 2012. She began following the elderly lady a few weeks after she was fired. "I love this job a lot and I find gratification in helping elderly people, in the meantime I have also joined a lot with her family" Luisa also babysits the grandchildren of the lady. The economic crisis in Italy has brought more and more Italian women back to domestic work. Italian carers and domestic helpers have increased by 53% in recent years. Latina, Italy, 2014
leonardi_portfolio2021_013 Boguslawa Bobak arrived in Italy in 2001 alone, looking for a job and a better life for her and her family, leaving three children in Poland. Four years later, when she found a stable job as a caregiver to an old lady, she decided to bring her three children to live with her in Rome: Staszek, Beata and Sylwester. The Bobak family was together again, living in a small shared apartment, in the center of Rome. Trying to fit in a foreign country and a foreign culture, all together. Boguslawa has considered fundamental to keep a connection with her native country so she asked her children to attend the polish school in Rome. Cultivate knowledge of their native language and traditions was a very important aspect of their life, although it was not always easy. Rome, Italy, 2008
leonardi_portfolio2021_023 Stefania, 50 years old, before her house. Former employee of Mabro, a factory that went bankrupt in 2011, she had been working there since 1988. "I still feel like an employee of Mabro. I can't believe that a life of work can end like this. I have a 19-year-old son who already works. I wish I could help him study at university, but right now I can't even help myself.” "She was one of the employees who occupied the factory during the several months long occupation. Campagnatico, Grosseto, Italy, 2013.
leonardi_portfolio2021_025 Angela Torre is portrayed with her son Elio in her home. Former employee of Mabro, currently unemployed since the factory closed due to bankruptcy. Grosseto, Italy, 2013
leonardi_portfolio2021_003 Congolese writer In Koli Jean Bofane portrayed during the Internazionale festival in Ferrara. Ferrara, Italy. 2018
leonardi_portfolio2021_019 Andrea and Marta Dzieduszycki, wine producers for many years, are pictured in front of their estate a few kilometers from Florence. From the "Polish Faces" project. Florence, Italy, 2015
leonardi_portfolio2021_018 Joanna Klisowska, soprano is portrayed in the municipal theater of the city of Rovereto. From the project "Polish faces". Rovereto, Italy, 2016
leonardi_portfolio2021_007 Jay Sinha the canadian writer founder of the online store 'Life without plastic' is portrayed during the Internazionale festival in Ferrara. Ferrara, Italy, Italy, 2019
leonardi_portfolio2021_022 Argentinian activist and writer Marta DIllon portrayed during the Internazionale festival in Ferrara. Ferrara, Italy, 2018
leonardi_portfolio2021_029 Luisa is portrayed inside the home of the lady she assists daily as a caregiver. Luisa lost her job as a shop assistant in a jewelry store when the shop closed for bankruptcy at the end of 2012. She began following the elderly lady a few weeks after she was fired. "I love this job a lot and I find gratification in helping elderly people, in the meantime I have also joined a lot with her family" Luisa also babysits the grandchildren of the lady. Latina, Italy, 2014
leonardi_portfolio2021_001 Ines Said Heshk is portrayed in the garden of the rural village where she lives, a few hundred kilometers south of Cairo.From the project 'Revolutionary People". El Dessamy, Egypt. 2012
leonardi_portfolio2021_010 Ana Giu Lady Blandon Arboleda, 24, is portrayed inside her house in the neighborhood of Funeraria in Medellin. Ana was 12 years old at the time of the operation Orión and during that time together with her family she was forced to leave the house where she grew up in the Comuna 13. The house became necessary to the guerrilla groups FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) and ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional) to control the. Medellin, Colombia in April 2014.
leonardi_portfolio2021_030 A stream near the town's textile factory. Mahalla, Egypt 2011
leonardi_portfolio2021_026 Jihan Abd Rezek is portrayed in her hair and make-up shop in the rural village where she lives, a few hundred kilometers south of Cairo. From the project "Revolutionary People". El Dessamy, Egypt. 2012
cairo-aprile-2011-imen-37-anni-sorella-musulmana-da-oltre-20-anni-e-ritratta-nel-quartiere-periferico-la-hagana-del-cairo-mentre-raggiunge-le-famiglie-piu-povere-del-quartiere-per-distribuire-i Imen, a 37 years old muslim sister for the past 20 years, is seen in "La Hagana" one of the poorest district of the city distributing food to the families. Cairo, Egypt, 2011

Francesca Leonardi is a photographer, based in Rome.

She works on long-term projects with a particular interest for the interactions between places and the people who live there. She began her practice in the United States, where she lived for many years, focusing on documentary and portraiture. She trained at the South Florida Art Center in Miami and the International Centre of Photography in New York.

She collaborates with NGOs such as Save the Children, Amnesty, Greenpeace.

Since 2023 she has been involved as a teacher in workshops on visual education and photographic technique with the NGO Emergency and at various high schools in the province of Rome.

Her works have appeared in numerous national and international publications.

She is the author of ‘O Post Mio, a photo book and audio documentary broadcasted with Rai Radio Tre from her her long-term project.

 

Rome, Italy

More info

Stories

‘O Post Mio – My place
Bed dreams

 

Books

O’Post Mio. Postcart. 2020