Conceptual nominee

This project explores death and decay, highlighting that beauty can be found even in these uncomfortable places.

The photos portray leaves from my garden that have fallen and decayed and -- yet -- retain an intrinsic beauty evidenced by their complex architecture.

There is also a parallel to be drawn with the human condition: we all live and die and even after death we leave behind signs of our existence that can be appreciated perhaps from a different perspective.

Gianfranco Merati (b. Asmara, Eritrea, Africa) is an Italian photographer based in London.


Gianfranco’s motivation as a photographer is that ‘beauty is everywhere’. He seeks to reveal it.


For the last decade he has been developing his photographic practice, through building skills and reflecting on projects. Influenced by living in Africa and then Italy, as well as time spent in other parts of the world, he photographed his surroundings. While travelling and living in different locations, he captured images that epitomized the place or documented encounters with people living there. During this period, he created several projects in Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan and China.


As his practice grew Gianfranco’s observation turned to investigation and he started developing abstract photography within a studio setting. Exploring the complex geometry found within nature, he has created many photographic series including projects revealing tessellating patterns within insects’ wings; magnetic fluid ‘pulled’ into rippling miniature landscapes; and the delicacy of flowers encased in ice.


Using both high tech methods and innovative use of basic means, each final image is exacting and verging on the unreal. This, despite the fact that Gianfranco does not manipulate his images to create any illusions in his work.