Photo | Elisa Iannacone

Photographer

FINE ART PROJECTS

SELECTED WORKS

Elisa is a CANON AMBASSADOR specializing in telling human stories through the realm of the imagination. With a background in narrative cinematography and journalism, she blends universal themes with the rich traditions of Latin American storytelling, using magical realism to craft poignant narratives that bridge the real and the fantastical. She is a regular judge for Visa Pour L'Image, Beyond the Frame, and Xposure International Photography Festival.

DREAMS OF CHILDHOOD

Created at the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital in Johannesburg, this series explores the place that young chronic illness patients' imaginations go while spending their time at the hospital. This work is part of the Austrian Parliament's Permanent Museum Collection. Opening hours and guided tours.

THE GREAT ESCAPE

"Sometimes I get frustrated that I am still on dialysis. I can’t go anywhere. I dream of flying away to another country; the nurses would help me escape. Flying with balloons!"

DIVA QUEEN

“Sometimes I feel like the walls are closing-in, but I picture myself as a model and designer. I am so in love with fashion, I imagine myself in this huge pink dress!”

BED ON WHEELS

“It’s boring to go through dialysis. I wish I was at home to play. I’d like my bed to be a green car with lights, made up of all the things we have in the hospital.”

CARNIVAL

“I wish there was music; people dancing with masks and ribbons around my bed. I could play the trumpet, and roar like a lion!”

ALL THE CAKES IN THE WORLD

“I wish I could eat everything I wanted - cakes, donuts, cookies, chocolates…lots of different cakes. All the cakes in the world!”

COVER OF FOTO OBJEKTIV MAGAZINE

EXHIBITIONS
2022 – Turbine Art Fair
2023 – Cape Town Art Fair
2023 to present – Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital
2023 – Xposure International Photography Festival

PERMANENT MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Austrian Parliament Permanent Art Collection

LIMITED SERIES FINE ART PRINTS AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Editions of 5 (main landscape images) - 1.5m x 1m prints - €5,000.00
Editions of 5 (main landscape images) - 1m x 75cm prints - €3,000.00

Get in touch to buy or inquire

EXHIBITION AVAILABLE FOR INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASES

THE SPIRAL OF CONTAINMENT

THE CLIMB

“Though everything was out of control, I could still go somewhere inside my mind, where the pain didn’t exist.”
– Red

POWER

“I was running away to put an end to everything. There was no shouting or begging, I was totally in control.”
– Fire Orange

STAYING AFLOAT

“I kept reading every tombstone that we walked past. There were people that died in 2015 and I thought, I’m going to be one of the people that dies this year. There was no way I was going to escape. I tried to run, but he caught me.”
– Orange

UNCAGED

"The cage is an internal place. feel. The lions represent all the things that are out there to get me – people, my own memory, my own mind – all the anxiety-provoking things that prevent me from growing, discovering, and being my true self."
- Golden Yellow

THE KINGDOM

“Standing at the abyss was very intimidating, I had a lot of fear in me. But once I got the dress on, as broken as it was, I got comfortable,
regained confidence, and felt like it was my kingdom. I was owning it. Everything that was broken or taken from me, I was commanding back into my life.”
– Yellow

THE KINGDOM - PORTRAIT

FIESTA

“It was always a wellknown secret, but I still told my family about my childhood abuse when I turned 17 by sending them a letter. Had I thought of the consequences, I never would have done it. Everything totally exploded.”
– Lime Yellow

ABANDONED

“What happened while I was living in that house had an impact for life.”

– Green

FOLLOWED

“People have been there before, people might be there again, you might have been followed, but you’re not quite sure. The forest isn’t really a place you can fully trust.”
– Forest Green

FOLLOWED - PORTRAIT

BROKEN CACTUS

“I’m positioned as a part of the architecture that once was, but like a cactus, all broken and punctured everywhere.
I’m still here, alive, standing, with strong thorns.”
– Light Green

NORMAL

“I was introduced to sex at the age of 5 by a woman. Everybody says it must have been terrible and I think, Actually, it was just normal. For me, that’s what happened every day and I carried on. I thought it was happening to everybody.”
– Verdigris

FIRDAUS

FROZEN

“I’m frozen... ice queen on the outside... inside is a different story.”

– Ice Blue

MANNEQUIN

“I was objectified over and over again, and very much felt like a mannequin. You could open the drawers and see each of those different places that I was abused in as a child, from 5 to 11.”
– Baby Blue

THE EYE OF THE STORM

“The morning after image is the one that stuck with me, like a hurricane, being in the centre, in the eye of the storm.”
– Dark Blue

THE SANDS OF TIME

“As I looked at the hourglass, I could feel myself waiting for the rape
to end, for the trial to end. This was me waiting for him to actually go and serve his time. That sand falling is the baggage that’s slipping away. The time we spent today surrounded by these clocks reminds me that I’m healing.”

– Blue

TRACKS

“The train tracks are the only thing that hold this memory together. They’re the only clarity I had when I felt I was drowning.”
– Navy Blue

POET

“Minutes after it happened, I wanted to say something to someone, but there was nobody there. I was alone with my fear, and the first thing I did was grab a piece of paper and a pen. I unloaded everything
with poetry, and found a way to write every day”
– Royal Blue

POET - PORTRAIT

THE PRESENT

“I was 5 and he was 16. He said, ‘If you come up to my room, I’ll give you a present’.”
– Purple

SLEEPING BEAUTY

“In the original fairytale, the princess is asleep and the prince rapes her. I felt like Sleeping Beauty and could have stayed in that tower forever.”

– Imperial Purple

STRENGTH AND BEAUTY

“The past will always pull you back, but you have to look forward. It can’t strip you from your strength and beauty.”
– Cerise

FLIGHT AND FIGHT

“My first response was flight – to escape the horror I’d experienced.
But soon after I realised I had survived and found myself turning back, determined to fight for change. Ballet became a creative outlet; it gave me a sense of grounding.”
– Pink

FLIGHT AND FIGHT - PORTRAIT

[TRIGGER WARNING: Sexual Violence] A global art installation exploring the impact of rape through 25 survivors' stories, expressed through the realm of the imagination. All images folllow the 24 colour-wheel order, plus black and white as a personal artist's statement. This work is part of Johannesburg's Constitutional Court Permanent Art Collection, South Africa. Opening hours and guided tours.

FULL AND PARTIAL EXHIBITION AVAILABLE FOR INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASES

25 main landscape images (1.5x1m), 10 close-up portraits (1mx75cm), 12 inserts (1mx75cm), 1 hologram, 27 audio soundscapes

EXHIBITIONS
2018 – OXO Tower Bargehouse Gallery
2018 – Camaradas art exhibition – Mexican Embassy in London, UK
2022 – Cape Town Art Fair
2022 – Nirox Sculpture Park, South Africa
2022 – Art4More, Athens
2022 - 2023 – Constitution Hill Human Rights Precinct, Johannesburg, South Africa (year-long)
2023 - Xposure International Photography Festival
2023 - Norval Foundation: The Kilbourn Collection

PERMANENT MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Constitutional Court Museum Art Collection, Johannesburg South Africa

LIMITED SERIES FINE ART PRINTS AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Editions of 5 (main landscape images) - 1.5m x 1m prints - €5,000.00
Editions of 5 (close-up portraits and inserts) - 1m x 75cm prints - €3,000.00
Editions of 25 (main landscape images) - 1m x 75cm - €3,000.00

Get in touch to buy or inquire

SELECTED IMAGES AVAILABLE FOR SALE AS NFTS, REPRESENTED BY LIGHT.ART FINE ART AGENCY

EXHIBITION BOOK AVAILABLE FOR SALE ON PEN WORKS MEDIA AND AMAZON UK

SELECTED MEDIA COVERAGE: The Guardian, Newsweek, Reuters, Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Daily Maverick, Huffington Post, Mashable, Evening Standard, Agenda Magasin, Lacuna Magazine

A PLACE TO HIDE FROM MONSTERS

PURPLE STEPS

"My birth mother burned my leg and abandoned me at a hospital[...] My new mother's favourite colour is purple, and she gave me the strength to stand again."

MONSTERS UNDER THE BED

"There are monsters under the bed... My mother keeps me safe, she died but now she is a butterfly that comes to visit."

WHERE THE SHADOWS SLEEP

"I was in a dark space when mom died, it was like everybody was against me. I was broken down, sad, alone. People look at you differently. But I found my strength, and I can be what I want. I'm burning all the negative vibes."

A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC

"I don't tell friends I have pain. They may judge me. I feel tiny. I wish home was a safe place. I feel scared."

This project delves into the emotions of children who have been orphaned or abandoned at a young age, exploring how their dreams and fears reflect their experiences. When one of the children was asked to define 'home,' their response was: 'A place to hide from monsters.'

EXHIBITIONS
2023 - Xposure International Photography Festival

LIMITED SERIES FINE ART PRINTS FOR SALE
Get in touch to buy or inquire

EXHIBITION AVAILABLE FOR INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASES

PRISONERS OF WAR

A conceptual visual representation of what it feels like to be a prisoner of war, accompanied by real descriptions shared directly by those currently imprisoned in Cameroon. Southern Cameroonian refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa represented those currently behind bars, by wearing predominantly Cameroonian animal masks to protect their own identity, and to allude to the fact that many prisoners feel abandoned, forgotten and treated "worse than animals". Many prisoners in Cameroon are currently serving sentences following tainted trials, or no trial at all. Anonymity is used for safety purposes.

DREAMS OF FREEDOM

"You are like an animal. Nobody thinks of you. Nobody cares if you live or die."

"Being imprisoned has taught me that freedom is invaluable."

CONFINEMENT

"Prisoners are allowed to control other prisoners based on the prison structure. Some of the food is confiscated by the most influential prisoners. You can find prisoners who go days without eating. "

"Where there is no freedom there can be no justice. And where there is no justice there can be no peace. So freedom should be a fundamental human right."

INCARCERATION

"Being imprisoned has taught me that freedom is invaluable."

PRISONER 8 [PORTRAIT]

"I was held in a tiny bunker deep underground. My cellmates were an unapologetic Niger Delta militant and a hardened Boko Haram terrorist. I will forever be hounded by the cries I heard on a nightly basis."

THE PRICE OF SURVIVAL

"The prison system does not make available the basic necessities needed to live. As such, everyone depends on family and friends. In cases of abandonment by family and friends, which is the case for many inmates, they turn to stealing, running illegal drug businesses and carrying out other ills."

AMBAZONIA

"At the moment, the only thing I live for, hope and dream of, is the Restoration of the statehood of the Southern Cameroons / Ambazonia. Ambazonia has taken over my life and my dreams. Ambazonia and Ambazonians are all that I care for now."

CAPTIVITY

"I feel so dehumanised. I embrace God to take control of my situation. It's the physical me that is in prison. My spirit is high and sufficient to undo evil."

PRISONER 6

"I am a scholar with a trained and disciplined mind to support, sustain, cope and live as though I am in my usual habitat. To withstand the abuses of a restricted lifestyle in an enslaved prison environment."

PRISONER 6 [UNMASKED]

"My brain is my most valuable asset. I pray it is sustained and maintained."

PRISONER 7

"Living in here without contact with your family is traumatic."

FOOD AS TORTURE

"The law says the prison admin have to provide food for each inmate, but about 80% of the inmates don’t have their own share. When you eat it, you fall sick. Sometimes they even bring food which has gone bad. It’s smelly, stinky. The beans have stones, gravel, and weevils."

INSIDE JOBS

"When it comes to drugs, the biggest network is controlled by prison wardens who smuggle them in and hand them to the drug dealers who are usually prisoners with long prison terms."

PRISONER 8 [LANDSCAPE]

"For 6 months, I was held incommunicado and my radius of movement restricted to 1.5m. I also never saw any sunlight and was completely deprived of any news or information whatsoever."

CONTROL

"When I was arrested, I think I went 4 days without eating. When I got to prison I couldn’t eat prison food 'cus it was really bad."

EXHIBITIONS
2023 - Xposure International Photography Festival

LIMITED SERIES FINE ART PRINTS AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Get in touch to buy or inquire

SELECTED MEDIA COVERAGE: Newsweek, BBC Africa

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SITUATION IN CAMEROON, VISIT THE ONLINE CAMPAIGN HERE

FULL AND PARTIAL EXHIBITION AVAILABLE FOR INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASES

HUMANS OF THE FORGOTTEN WAR

A visual translation of the stories of displacement and exile in the Southern Cameroons, through the voices of Anglophone and Francophone civilians, separatists, federalists, humanitarian aid workers, journalists, and refugees. The French military and government declined to comment.

FORCED MIGRATION

Those who have managed to escape, have encountered a life of displacement. Never belonging to any given country, they bounce between many, risking their lives, living in precarious conditions for months at a time, and facing extreme poverty.

THE BURDEN

"If you just pick a gun without preparation, that psychological effect, the impact is there. It's not easy to carry that burden but I cannot stand to see armies burning our houses, our villages, burning our people alive... If they knew this was part of their blood, they would not commit these atrocities."
- Separatist

DISPLACEMENT

The Anglophone Crisis taking place in Southern Cameroon is one of the most neglected conflicts happening in the world today. Hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the cross-fire between the Francophone military forces and the Anglophone separatists have become refugees and asylum seekers. Moving from one country to the next, they often spend months in the jungle, never able to settle or find 'home'.

NKOSI

"I can't take my mask off because my family, friends or property can be targeted back home."

NKOSI AND HIS WIFE

"We normally went home at least every second year, but the fact we can't do it... there's a disconnect with the family that creates a social burden; it's quite disheartening."

AGNES

"I was not born an amputee, but have come to accept that this is me now; nothing can stop me. I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss my home. I just hope everything goes back to normal. It has not been easy…people have been killed; children, women, family members, friends; it’s very sad."
Agnes was able to source a new leg in South Africa. It is not safe to go back home.

NESTOR

"In any crisis, you can always find a solution. If this situation was called by Francophones coming to fight Anglophones, we'd have a good reason to say 'these brothers and sisters are fighting against us', but it's because the Biya regime has decided to stage a war against his own people. I would like us to sit at the table and find an amicable solution. It's very difficult for a human being to accept or to see what is happening in our country"

ROSE

"You need to be free where you are. You have to have the right to speak out your mind, what is bothering you."

DERRIC

"For once we have given ourselves our own name—Ambazonian. People should just call us that."

NKOSI'S CHILDREN

"Where you were born, where you grew up will always be home."

ROSE [CLOSE UP]

"[Back home] you are a citizen, but you are not allowed to do certain things. You are stopped. You want to give a complaint about what is not going right, but you are not allowed. They will cut you up, they will lock you, they will not allow you. You're not supposed to speak. You can't come out with your own opinion."

INGWA

"We want to separate because we need a better life and a better future[...]The Francophone side, they treat us badly. When we went out to protest, they started killing us. They killed my brothers... this is why I ran."

GILBERT

"We feel like we are gradually becoming extinct."

NKOSI AND HIS CHILDREN

'Nkosi' and his family left the Southern Cameroons region before the recent Anglophone crisis started. They have turned another African nation into their current residence, but feel that their true home will always be in Southern Cameroons.

'McDONALD'

'McDonald' chose his own nickname. He lives in constant fear for his family back home and struggles to keep up with paying rent, both for himself and for them. He has been unable to secure a job in his current living conditions. His children have been unable to attend school for several years.

BEN

"Born into slavery, as a child of a slave, you grow up to believe that slavery’s a normal thing."

EXHIBITIONS
2023 - Xposure International Photography Festival

LIMITED SERIES FINE ART PRINTS AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Get in touch to buy or inquire

SELECTED MEDIA COVERAGE: Newsweek, BBC Africa

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SITUATION IN CAMEROON, VISIT THE ONLINE CAMPAIGN HERE

FULL AND PARTIAL EXHIBITION AVAILABLE FOR INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASES

A YARN OF THOUGHT

A project that works with individuals who have experienced mental health challenges, using the metaphor of untangling yarn to explore the complexities of their thoughts and emotions. By visualizing the often tangled nature of the mind, the project highlights both the struggles and the potential for healing, offering a pathway to understanding and clarity.

THREADS OF THE MIND

This image captures the delicate strands of thought weaving through the mind, highlighting how our mental experiences can feel as intricate and fragile as threads waiting to be unraveled.

UNRAVELING THE UNSPOKEN

The act of weaving through a chaotic tangle of yarn reflects the journey of navigating mental health, where clarity often comes by finding one's way through the confusion and disorder.

THROUGH THE TANGLES

Amidst the tangled threads, a glimmer of clarity begins to emerge, symbolizing the process of working through mental confusion to find understanding and peace.

FRAYED AT THE EDGES

This visual metaphor shows how our mental paths often become twisted and tangled, forcing us to retrace our steps and slowly unravel the confusion in search of direction.

A THREAD AT A TIME

The deliberate and careful process of unwinding a ball of yarn reflects the art of untangling our thoughts, a patient act of self-care that brings understanding and peace.

THE SILENT STRUGGLE

Silence, represented by the stillness of yarn in knots, captures how the mind can feel paralysed in its own quiet, struggling to find expression and release.

CHASING THE TANGLE

As a cat chases after the strands of yarn, it mirrors the restless pursuit of understanding and clarity amidst the mental chaos we often face.

THE ART OF UNWINDING

This image captures the patience required to untangle our mental knots, where progress may be slow, but each small step brings us closer to clarity, one thread at a time.