Giovanni Ambrosio biography and work
Photographer and visual artist, born in Naples in 1978, based between Paris and Naples.
Work
My work spans photography, painting, printmaking, video, and performance, moving fluidly across disciplines. Photography acts as a unifying medium, capturing and layering diverse elements, and serves as both a documentary tool and an active, performative medium. In my series Argumenta, I use photography to explore themes of migration, identity, and collective memory, creating visual narratives that connect personal and societal histories.
I approach my practice as an ongoing “score”—a collection of materials to be rearranged and reinterpreted within site-specific installations. I engage the audience through unframed prints and objects, allowing the work to adapt to new spaces and interactions. My process includes curatorial projects, inviting other artists to interact with my themes and developing new perspectives within the work.
Printmaking and digital publishing have also become integral to my practice, blending traditional and industrial techniques. Recurring themes—such as erasure, the archive, and the tension between memory and loss—highlight the complex relationships between personal memory and the social and political landscapes that shape it.
In addition, I contribute to educational and academic contexts through workshops and collaborative research. My long-standing project with dramaturg Loretta Mesiti, Science of Singularities, explores how singularity emerge at the intersection of artistic and philosophical thought.
Bio
Trained in documentary photography at Nigma Fotografi in Naples, I later studied photography and contemporary art at Université Paris 8, where I focused on the relationship between text and photography. I hold a Postgraduate Degree in Cinema and Literature Studies from Université Paris X, with research on Belgian cinema.
Before dedicating myself to the arts in 2010, I worked in education, teaching Italian literature and civilization at Université de Haute Bretagne Rennes 2, where I explored Italian history through visual arts. This background has shaped my interest in narrative and collaboration. Since 2009, I have been working in freelance visual communication, developing projects with artists and designers that merge technical and creative practices.
Since 2013, I have collaborated with dramaturg and researcher Loretta Mesiti on projects including Table of Matters and Science of Singularities, exploring the intersections of art and theory. I also work with philosopher Luca Salza, contributing to platforms like K. Revue trans-européenne de philosophie et arts. Furthermore, I am in a constant dialogue with Daniela Allocca and Progetto Fiori.
My research includes projects like Mucem Marseille Football & Identities and Ultras Youth, which I co-led to document Ultras football culture in the Arab world post-Arab Spring. This project combines documentary photography with social inquiry, investigating the cultural impact of fandom.
Printmaking and Digital Publishing
Recent years have led me to expand into printmaking, with residencies at Frans Masereel Centrum and studies with Vittorio Avella. My publishing project, Arroz con Pollo, explores digital and print-based narratives, blending industrial and traditional techniques.
Curatorial and Community-Based Work
My curatorial practice began at Nigma Fotografi Gallery in Naples (1999-2001), curating programs and managing the photography library. Since then, I have contributed to projects such as Observer la Ville, co-founded Seminario Semina, and served in Osservatorio Critico at Altofest. I also co-founded the Biennale del Vesuvio research group, focusing on public art, and launched my ongoing project Radical Football Fans Archetypes in Artistic Processes.
My works are in the collections of Mucem in Marseille, Mufoco in Milan, in the Frans Masereel Centrum in Belgium, in the Ecole Alain Ducasse Paris Campus.
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
Eject-a 1/ Eject-a 2, Putèca Tramandars/ Spazio Amira, Naples (2024).
Ius soli Campania Felix delenda est. Indian Photographic Festival (2023-2024)
Soils/Sounds, Vico II Corte San Michele, Ottaviano, Italy (2023)
Ius soli and Opus Incertum installed in Oreste will be back, Museo Madre, Naples (2022)
Prophecies and pronouncements in Sibyl Sessions, Parco Archeologico di Cuma, Italy (2022)
Dialoghi, Vico II Corte San Michele, Ottaviano, Italy (2022)
Prolegomena per un museo archeologico della zona rossa, O’ Vascio Room Gallery,(2020)
We need no education, Institut Français d’Algérie, Algiers (2020)
How do I archive a performance which is not mine, Teatro Bellini, Naples (2020)
We need no education, Les Rotondes, Luxembourg (2018)
A dispersed anthology of J’ai brûlé dans tes yeux. Je brûle, Museo Madre, Naples (2017)
(re)Writing (a) List, Altofest, Naples (2014)
Who am i represented by? Academy of Human Potential, Lecce, Italy (2014)
Ritratti Residenti / Dislocati / Sparsi / Non Rilegati / Non Relegati, Altofest, Naples (2013)
Cos’è uno spazio pubblico?, Independents, Art Verona art fair (2013)
Garder les gens altérer la forme, Espce Icare, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, (2013)
Global Portrait Factory, Altofest, Naples, (2012)
Garder les gens altérer la forme, Médiathèque Marguerite Duras, Paris (2010)
Garder les gens altérer la forme, WIPMaison de La Villette, Paris, (2010)
Collective exhibitions
ULTRA Fotboll och politik vid Medelhavet Medelhavsmuseet, Goteborg (2023-2025)
Beyond the game, BI-BOX Art Space, Biella Italy (2022)
The Art Of The Football Scarf, Oof Gallery, London (2022)
Universo Giovane, Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Milan (2022)
ULTRA Fotboll och politik vid Medelhavet Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm (2021-2023)
Who doesn’t jump up! Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Milan (2021)
Seeds by Seeeds, Ecole Alain Ducasse, Paris (2021)
La révolution du ballon rond, Institut du monde Arabe, Paris (2019)
Future of Travel, Corridor Project Space Amsterdam (2018)
Première Vu’, Galerie ‘Vu, Paris (2018)
Nous sommes foot Mucem, Marseille (2017)
Instabul Photobook Festival (2017)
Landskrona Fotosalon, Landskrona, Sweden (2016)
Coding/Decoding the Borders, Espace Architecture Flagey-ULB, Brussels (2016)
New Exposure competition, Open House Gallery, New York (2013)
Contact, Projects & Network
Galleries
Seeeds Gallery, Paris