Alessio Bolzoni's 'Abuse' Explores Wilted Flowers as Metaphor

Italian fashion photographer Alessio Bolzoni (Crema, 1979) has published a new artist book titled 'Abuse.' Now based in London after stints in Paris and Italy, Bolzoni has long pursued a parallel interest in image research alongside his commercial work. The book focuses on cut flowers photographed on a white sheet, resembling an operating table. These lifeless bodies are presented as victims of human abuse of nature through relentless production and exploitation. Bolzoni employs his fashion photography language rather than documentary reportage. The subject matter is unpretentious: wilted flowers from household vases that end up in trash, transitioning from fragrance to decay. The work meditates on beauty that inevitably fades. For the book, Bolzoni shot approximately 1,200 photographs, selecting only a fraction. The resulting sequence builds a crescendo contrasting life and death, ephemeral and eternal.