Alba Zari

Alba Zari is a visual artist working primarily with photography and video.

From an early age she has led a nomadic life, living in different cities and countries. She was born in Thailand, where she lived until the age of 8. In Italy she lived first in Trieste, then in Bologna, where she graduated from the DAMS in cinematography before specialising in photography and visual design at NABA in Milan, and going on to study documentary photography at the International Center of Photography in New York. Her experience as a traveller influences and is reflected in her photographic practice, which investigates socially engaged subjects — including visual research into psychiatric institutions in the wake of the Basaglia law, and eating disorders in American society.

Zari's photographic sensibility is deeply introspective. Her work The Y – Research of biological father (2017), winner of the Graziadei 2019, has been shown in numerous international exhibitions, including London Art Fair, MAXXI in Rome, Fotomuseum Winterthur, and the Festival Circulation in Paris. With the projects The Y and Occult, she was selected as part of FOAM Talent 2020. In 2022 she won the Images Vevey jury prize. She made her first short documentary, FreiKörperKultur, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival as part of Settimana della Critica; she is currently working on White Lies, her first feature-length documentary.