Il Volta 25

The cosplay shoot: Il Volta 25

The set brings together very different settings, held together by light used as a narrative element throughout. The first images take place in a historic library hall: dark wooden shelves rising to a balcony, filing cabinets and long tables, and large white glass chandeliers filling the upper part of the frame. Light enters from the windows at the far end and saturates the air with a warm, almost milky yellow that softens edges and reduces the wood to a range of amber and rust. The figure in a long white gown appears small against the architecture, standing still at the centre of the polished floor or leaning against the bookcase, her movement restrained and seemingly just interrupted, as if crossing the hall unhurried.

A portrait follows, built on two colours only: a full red flooding the background and a cold, bluish light cutting across the face and shoulders. The body remains largely in shadow, the head is tilted and the gaze goes off frame; the contrast between the two temperatures is the substance of the image.

The second half of the set moves outdoors, onto mounds of grey gravel with orange industrial structures behind. Here the palette turns dusty: sand, washed-out blue, low clouds. A white-haired figure in a blue tunic, with a broad blade, rests against the slope in an unsteady balance; another, in a golden costume and dark red skirt, stands on the crest of the gravel with the wind opening the fabric.

One image stands apart from the rest: a bare concrete interior, grid windows shedding a diagonal beam visible in the dust, and a figure in black and red at the centre of the empty space, with cords and ornaments standing out against the pale floor.