For the advertising campaign of the LOVEJOY RING, Andrea, Claudia, Marco and of course I decided to photograph girls of non-Italian ethnic origins, either born on Elba or who simply live here. With the ring on, they were supposed to assume the typical position of those who demand silence, with a finger to their nose. A decisive gesture, a message, addressed to those who, especially in those months, screamed in the media about the desire to close national borders to those arriving from distant territories.

We launched a call on Facebook, and set up a photo shoot at my house, as always, and on a winter afternoon on Elba we waited for the “models” to arrive.

 

The night before, I had gone to the cinema and in the line behind me was Michela, a beautiful girl with Asian features. I asked her if she wanted to participate in our advertising campaign and the next day she arrived accompanied by her father. She did not know the other girls, but immediately a sense of connection arose between them all, perhaps because all of their origins were at once so different and yet so close. The shyness and mistrust of the first moments disappeared quickly.

We had photographed the last girl and were all enjoying a final cigarette together, when Jennifer arrived with her parents: her mother from the island of Elba and her father from South America. Jennifer hadn’t wanted to come, she thought she looked ugly and didn’t want to appear, but her mother pushed her to be photographed and she was right: Jennifer was beautiful.