Under the guidance of Witty Books publisher Tommaso Parrillo, designer Giulia Boccarossa and PhMuseum curator Rocco Venezia, a group of photographers will be followed through the advanced phase of their projects with the goal of concluding the work and having it ready for publishing. At the end of the 6-month masterclass, all participants will be ready to present their work to an international audience in the form of a dummy or a photobook. Furthermore, Witty Books will select one of the participants’ work to be published as a 500-edition photobook as part of its catalogue. Production will be fully financed by Witty Books, with a contribution from the PhMuseum. The program will be conducted online, with one final gathering at PhMuseum Days International Photography Festival (Italy) where photobooks and dummies will be shown. To apply, simply fill in the form with your personal details, insert a link to your project and submit for free. If your application is successful, we will notify you and you will then be able to Enroll in the Program.
During 6 online 3.5-hour group classes Tommaso Parrillo, Giulia Boccarossa and Rocco Venezia will give you a general grounding in the contemporary photobook world, editing strategies and design techniques to develop your project into a photobook.
With these 2 online 60-min individual sessions you will have the time to engage in specific discussions aimed at working on your ideas and improving your method.
To grant you further insight we have also organized 5 interactive studio visits’ with guest artists, curators and gallerists to let you know about their practice and get a better understanding of their approach and role in the photography industry. More info soon.
At the end of the program, all the dummies produced by the participants will be presented and displayed at PhMuseum Days. Witty Books will select one work to be published in the form of a book. All participants will still benefit from dissemination opportunities through PhMuseum editorial initiatives and its network.
Giulia Boccarossa (Italy, 1995) is a graphic designer and illustrator. After finishing her classical studies she started her training as a designer. She graduated from the faculty of Industrial Design at the UNIRSM-IUAV University of San Marino, then she achieved a Master's Degree in Communication and Design for Publishing at ISIA in Urbino with a thesis entitled "Designer's role in the photographic publishing industry: the imprint of the graphic designer on the Italian Photo Book".
Her works have been shown in exhibitions such as the Santarcangelo Theater Festival (2019), the "Italia 90" exhibition organized by Condominio XYZ in Milan (2020), the Graphic Days in Turin (2021) and more recently "Il mestiere di grafico-oggi" at the Triennale, Milan (2022). With her books and illustrations projects, she obtained several awards and recognitions, amongst those the prestigious HISTORICAL BOOK AWARD 2020 by Les Rencontres d'Arles, a shortlist in the ADI Index Catalog 2020 in the Targa Giovani category, the Fedrigoni Top Award 2020, and an honourable mention at the 2020 Marco Bastianelli Award.
She collaborates with photographers such as Pino Musi, Lorenzo Leone and Stefano Cerio and with publishing houses such as Hatje Cantz and Witty Books.
Tommaso Parrillo is an Italian publisher and founder of Witty Books, a publishing house founded with the name of Witty Kiwi in 2012, that aims to promote photography and visual arts. Since 2016 he is also co-founder of JEST, an independent space dedicated to enhancing culture and photography in Turin. He also teaches photography in institutions as IED Torino, private school and workshops.