The Substance of Dreams

Xposure International Photography Festival
Founded and Organized by:
His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi
His Excellency Tariq Saeed Allay
Curation by Simon Newton

Lucia Giacani's photography exists at the threshold between fashion and fantasy, where the real dissolves into the surreal and beauty takes on an almost hallucinatory quality.

Her images are meticulously composed, saturated with detail, and rich with symbolism; each frame a tableau vivant that blurs the boundaries between desire, identity, and illusion.

Dreams, in Giacani’s visual language, are not ephemeral or abstract. They are tactile, styled, and sharply focused — constructed with the same precision as haute couture. Yet beneath the surface of glamour, there is always a sense of tension. This duality, between control and chaos, surface and psyche, is where her dreams unfold.

In her world, fashion photography becomes a way of staging the unconscious. Her models do not merely wear clothes; they perform psychological states, embodying archetypes, fears, or fantasies. At times ethereal, at times unsettling, her images invite us into a subconscious realm where aesthetics and emotion collide.

Lucia Giacani (b 1976) is a Milan-based fashion photographer recognised for her bold, surreal, and feminine vision that merges Italian elegance with international appeal. With over 18 years of experience, her work has featured in Vogue Italia, Harper’s Bazaar, and L’Officiel, along with major brand campaigns. Critics describe her imagery as theatrical, nostalgic, and deeply reflective of identity and art history. Awarded Italian Excellence in 2025, her recent exhibition Surreal Identities in Milan cements her reputation as one of fashion photography’s most innovative and visionary voices.

Critics have noted that Lucia’s photography transcends technique, placing emphasis on vision and narrative. Paolo Marasca, Cultural Minister of Ancona, described her images as charged with ironic nostalgia and soulful searching, linking them to the legacy of Western figurative art from Bernini to Warhol. Her work resists the commodification of beauty often seen in glossy magazines, instead constructing surreal staged mise en scène that compel her subjects to question identity and existence.

This theatrical approach transforms her models into protagonists who balance vulnerability with strength, bringing them closer to their own truths. In doing so, Giacani creates a den of fiction that blurs the boundaries between fashion, art, and performance. Her photography captures women as both reflections of themselves and as characters within an imagined narrative, producing images that are simultaneously intimate and universal. Through this, she has established herself as an artist whose photographs resonate far beyond their aesthetic surface, offering an enduring dialogue between art and fashion.

“A miracle of theatre and art, and, with certain artists like Giacani, photography”
Paolo Marasca, Cultural Minister, Ancona, Italy

“Lucia Giacani is a woman who immortalises women under every aspect. Feelings, ambitions and normality are captured through the lens behind which is a feminine eye that knows what to look for and how to express the essence of an entire universe. A woman who reflects another woman: this is the intimate reason for her job. Her look, naturally feminine and revolutionary, is the silent engine that works behind every shot and through all her flashes.”
Vogue Italia, 2013

Xposure festival of photography 'The Substance of Dreams' Sharjah 2026.