Cement Flower

Through the portraits of my friends, I tell part of my story, my passions for the blocks, sneakers, rap, graffiti and therefore my passion for the roads; but more importantly, 

I shared what I learned through what I experienced and saw in the streets and who I became along the path that took me from Rome to London. Again I’m not documenting the roads, what I have passed and seen, but I tell what I have learned, and what being on the roads has taught me. 10 chapters that I prefer to call 10 teachings, the ones most important to me. 10 friends to whom I have given the responsibility, for different reasons, to disseminate 1 of these 10 teachings. The origin, the background, the generation they represent, the context, the dreams and desires, the past or the present, the attitude, the passions, the feelings, etc. are all the reasons why I have chosen, exactly, these 10 friends to represent the lessons I have learned along this journey in the streets This wants to be a book of teaching, of revenge, a book that teaches to believe in oneself and in one’s dreams; but perhaps more than anything else it simply wants to be a book of hope.

I'd also love to share the meaning behind the choice of the cover of the book. It is clearly inspired by the French film “La Haine'', as well as one of my favorite films, reflects my adolescence and the guiding sentiment that accompanied it: hatred; but it also wants to push the reader to go deep inside me, without stopping on the surface and discovering what lies behind a hard face. The book does not tell of hate, on the contrary, it tells of how hatred vented in creativity can teach ourselves and others.