Biografy
Francesca Papaianni
Ricadi – Italy
Calabrian, lives with the sea on the horizon and the desire to go and discover the world. The passion for photography was born with the journey as an emotional memory of the experiences lived. A psychologist in life, she works with emotions and in portrait photography she finds “the other”, with his interiority, the normality of a life that does not act as a pose. She highlights that common thread that unites everyone and everything in the difference of places and cultures. Her images bring “there and then” to relive what was experienced and make the atmosphere feel even to those who were not there.
Visio Mentis Project Tropea 2-9 August 2025
The Project
“Devotion”
For a long time, the journey to India remained a suspended destination for Francesca Papaianni, perceived as a country whose intensity of life and sensations seemed to require a deep preparation, almost an initiation. India reveals itself, in its boundless grandeur, as a melting pot of all the manifestations of existence, often contradictory, where every sensory perception – from deafening sounds to explosive flavors, from the brightest colors – is exalted to the nth degree, enveloping the observer in an inebriating vortex.
What touched the artist’s sensitivity most deeply was the uninterrupted and close density of the human presence, an experience that at times can appear chaotic and even oppressive.
And yet, in this vibrant whirlwind, a moment of transcendence emerges in which every noise dies down, the crowd gathers in a palpable wave of spirituality and only devotion becomes the absolute protagonist. These are moments of extraordinary power and involvement.
It is on the ancestral ghats of Calcutta and Varanasi, at dawn, in the ritual of the sacred bath in the Mother Ganga river, that these moments of meditation reach their peak. Here, each individual is invited to an intimate and sacred confrontation with himself, to rediscover his own personal spirituality in an atmosphere of profound and universal harmony. The photographs of this project crystallize precisely these moments of pure, unfiltered, and intense devotion.
See other photographers Visio Mentis - August 2-9, 2025
Many thanks to the organizers of the exhibition. Everything was done at the highest level. Special thanks for the work done by Marcello Petardi. It was a great honor to participate in this celebration of photography
Międzynarodowa wystawa, która dała wyraz emocjom. Cieszę się, że mogłem być jej częścią i mam nadzieję, że będę mógł współpracować z wami ponownie w przyszłości.
Ho accettato con grande entusiasmo l’invito a partecipare alla mostra VISIO MENTIS a Catanzaro, che rappresenta la mia prima esperienza in una mostra collettiva. Ho avuto il piacere di conoscere il curatore, Marcello Pitardi, grazie alla pagina Pixel Photo Magazine, e abbiamo instaurato un ottimo rapporto. Marcello è una persona precisa e pragmatica, che lavora con efficacia e determinazione. Inizialmente, temevo che la distanza da Bruxelles e i miei impegni lavorativi avrebbero reso difficile la mia partecipazione, ma tutto si è svolto senza problemi. Purtroppo, non ho potuto essere presente all’evento a causa della distanza e degli impegni, ma sono felice di sapere che la mostra ha avuto un ottimo successo e che le mie foto hanno potuto essere viste da decine di persone, condividendo con loro la mia visione della fotografia.
The exhibition was very diverse – there were emotional portraits, the beauty of nature, architecture and animals, street photography and abstraction. The seriousness of the situation is given by the fact that the exhibition was opened by the
theoretician of art, Prof. Vittorio Politano, photographer Vincenzo Caroleo and the organizer, curator of the exhibition and photographer Marcello Pitardi. Thank you for the warm welcome, new acquaintances and a beautiful journey through the
world of international photography.
Enjoyed participating in the Visio Mentis photo exhibition. I was impressed by the professionalism of the organization. The location itself, but also the digital environment and the promotional material were of high quality and allure.
The exhibition in March 2025 at Ex Stac in Catanzaro, which was the part of the Visio Mentis project, was an amazing event for me. The whole organizing team did a wonderful professional job in promoting photography as an art and photographers as the personalities. Seeing my own photos exhibited in the beautiful setting and having the opportunity to share my thoughts with other colleagues photographers and the audience was an unforgettable experience for me that I still enjoy for a long time after the exhibition is over. I am proud to have been a part of this project and at the same time it is an inspiration for me to continue searching for my own vizio mentis. Thank you very much for your support.
Aver avuto la possibilità di confrontarmi con artisti di caratura internazionale è stato uno dei momenti più significatativi della mia esperienza fotografica. La mostra dal respiro internazionale, ha raccolto le opere di 27 artisti Italiani ed esteri portando nello spazio espositivo di Palazzo ex-Stac un caleidoscopio di emozioni. Quello che mi ha colpito profondamente è stato il livello veramente alto delle opre in mostra. Ciascun artista ha sicuramente onorato la propria presenza e Marcello è stato impeccabile nell’organizzazione. Mi auguro che mostre di questo livello possano essere sempre più frequenti e che il pubblico possa apprezzarle sempre di più.