Gen Z's Dual Lives: Niccolò Rastrelli Photographs Private Rooms and Public Feeds

Photographer Niccolò Rastrelli's new series explores how Gen Z, the first generation of digital natives, navigates the divide between their private lives and their online personas. The project, featured in a photo essay, juxtaposes intimate portraits of young people in their personal spaces with their curated social media feeds. Rastrelli, a younger millennial, reflects on his own early experiences with social media platforms like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and the now-defunct Bebo, noting that his generation learned to adapt to the public nature of these platforms over time. The series questions how Gen Z, who have grown up with the internet as a mother tongue, manage the tension between authenticity and performance online. The work is presented as a visual investigation into identity formation in the digital age, highlighting the contrast between the private self and the public persona. The photo essay is part of a broader journalistic feature that examines the ongoing evolution of social media's impact on self-expression.