Residency at RadLab Studio: A Mythic Journey with Francesco Amorosino
RadLab Studio just completed its first international artist-in-residence program — and it was an unforgettable experience. Italian artist and visual researcher Francesco Amorosino joined us in Bulgaria for a deep dive into myth, landscape, and alternative photographic processes. All photographs during the residency are made by Ivicha unless otherwise credited.
A Residency Born at Experimental Photo Festival
Francesco and I first connected almost a year ago at the Horizontal Portfolio Review at Experimental Photo Festival 2024 in Barcelona — a key platform for contemporary photographic dialogue. As one of the invited portfolio reviewers representing RadLab Studio, I encountered Francesco Amorósino’s work – and it immediately captivated me.
Francesco Amorosino (@francesco_amorosino_art) doesn’t just create images, he uses photography as a visual research tool to explore belief systems, freedom, and identity. His work challenges the line between tangible and intangible, often blending historical and experimental photographic techniques. His depth of inquiry and innovative process made the decision to invite him for our first international photography residency an easy one — an idea born that day in Barcelona and realized just weeks ago. And given his long-standing fascination with mythology, the focus of this residency felt like the most natural next step.
Francesco presenting his portfolio at Experimental Photo Festival (Barcelona, Spain, 2024)
“In Medias Res” (© Francesco Amorosino)
Folklore, Fieldwork, and Over 1000km of Inspiration
The goal of this photography residency was more than just image-making — it was a full-fledged expedition. Francesco’s long-term research focuses on comparing ancestral narratives across Europe, uncovering patterns in folklore that speak to deeper psychological and cultural structures. Previous projects explored Italian witches (Masche), Norse myths, and Scottish legends. For this chapter, he turned his attention to Bulgarian folklore.
Over the course of two weeks, we traveled 1,128 kilometers across Bulgaria — from the rugged Belasitsa and Rhodope mountains in the southwest to the culturally layered region of Sredna Gora and the Podbalkan valleys. These southern borderlands, near the borders with North Macedonia and Greece, are incredibly rich in cultural, social, and historical layers, shaped by centuries of cross-cultural exchange, migration, and myth-making. They are known for their deep-rooted traditions, folklore rituals, and spiritual landscapes, while Sredna Gora and the Podbalkan area hold strong ties to Thracian heritage, marked by ancient sanctuaries, burial mounds, and mythological symbolism embedded in the land itself.
Francesco was pretty excited during his first encounter with a socialist-style sculpture — little did he know there would be more than enough of them ahead.
In-the-middle-of-nowhere-statue
A lone German hitchhiker we picked up in the rain got an unexpected introduction to Bulgarian cult traditions. (© Francesco Amorosino)
Part of Enyovden harvest in Dolen
The journey wasn’t always smooth — summer heat waves and even a local flood tested our perseverance — but it was deeply rewarding. We were welcomed by incredibly hospitable people, many of whom generously shared local stories, folk legends, and symbolic knowledge passed down through generations. For Francesco, these oral histories became an essential thread in his visual research. For me, it was a powerful reminder of why we believe in long-form, slow photography. The fieldwork was rigorous, often intense, but immensely rewarding. It reflected what we believe a true photography residency should be: immersive, open-ended, and collaborative.
If you ever pass through Dolen, don’t miss the chance to meet Ne Vena @ The Gates and her wonderful creatures.
Our host Serafim, son of Daniel, when he heard we are going down from the mountain.
Cold river, hot summer. Nothing compares. (© Francesco Amorosino)
Back to the Darkroom
After all that fieldwork, we shifted gears back to RadLab in Gabrovo and hit the darkroom for a full week of printmaking. Francesco is known for working with liquid silver-gelatin emulsion, a flexible (and finicky) material that allows photographic images to be printed on unconventional surfaces. At RadLab, we pushed this even further, pairing the emulsion with lith developer — a combination that hadn’t been tested before.
The first few days were pure experimentation: tweaking formulas, adjusting pH levels, testing exposure times, and searching for that delicate balance between control and chaos. Because each silver-gelatin emulsion behaves differently when processed with lith developer, we had to carefully adjust the chemistry — in particular, the carbonate concentration (to control pH), as well as the amounts of developing agent and restrainers. The goal was to induce a lith effect while keeping the solution stable and active for more than an hour — essential for producing prints at the scale of 30×40 cm.
The results couldn’t be better: high-contrast, deeply textured images with shifting tonal qualities that echoed the layered complexity of the folklore Francesco was exploring. Each print was entirely unique — not just visually, but chemically. No two could ever be exactly reproduced.
The Residency Outcome — and What Comes Next
The residency culminated in an informal open studio where visitors could see Francesco’s work in progress and learn more about the process. If you missed it — no worries. Several of the prints are now part of RadLab’s permanent collection, generously left behind by Francesco for future visitors to experience.
Hosting our first international photography residency has reaffirmed our commitment to fostering work that’s research-driven, collaborative, and technically bold. We’re proud to have created space for Francesco’s mythic investigation to evolve — and we’re already dreaming up the next chapter.
Interested in collaborating?
If you’re an artist or organization working with photography in bold, unconventional ways — or dreaming up a project that doesn’t quite fit the mold — get in touch. RadLab is here for exactly that kind of work.
We’ll keep the doors open.
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