Nella Miscela / In the Mix

Nella Miscela / In the Mix is a series of works developed from my recent travels to Italy. The trip held particular significance for me as a second-generation Italian-Australian migrant seeking to explore my relationship to culture, place and language.

During this time, I confronted the tension of being perceived as Australian in a place I imagined as a site of belonging. While these photographs may initially resemble tourist images - moments of beauty, stillness and everyday life - they are shaped by a more complex experience of proximity and distance.

As a second-generation migrant, the act of returning to a cultural homeland can involve both connection and estrangement. Moments of belonging were often accompanied by subtle dislocations: speaking Italian and being answered in English, navigating miscommunications, and feeling like a visitor in a place where I was searching for home.

The works hold these layered experiences together, capturing moments of peace, familiarity and profound connection while also gesturing toward the quieter tensions that sit just outside the frame.

The title Nella Miscela - meaning “in the mix” - reflects the entanglement of vulnerability, euphoria and uncertainty that can arise when attempting to connect to culture as diaspora.

Nella Miscela was exhibited at SOL Gallery in 2026 as part of TO HAVE SEEN SOMETHING IS TO NOT HAVE SEEN SOMETHING ELSE, a group photography exhibition.