Completed 2023
A collection of photos by Baeley Amalfi and Yusef Hourani, showcased at Perth Centre for Photography’s Collective Exhibition.
Yusef Hourani was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1999. After high school, Yusef struggled to find classical mentorship and pursued his art form in the city of Florence, Italy where he formally studied the classical method of academic drawing and painting at the Florence Academy of Art under the direction of Daniel Graves. It was there in Florence that he also studied the practice of Iconography under the private tutoring of Sister Giselle Cappuccini, a nun from the Fraternités de Jérusalem based in the Badia Fiorentina Church in the historical center of the city. Having finished his studies in 2022, the COVID pandemic moed Yusef back home to Perth. He took the last scheduled flight from Rome’s suddenly empty airport. Despite his unique training and mesmerising art, Yusef struggled to find a home for either his work or method in his hometown.
Originally planned between coffee and walks in their hometown of Freo, Baeley and Yusef captured his last few months in Australia before packing again, this time for a mentorship in London, less than a year later. The work features studio lighting by Luke Hacket & Alex Gibbs.