biography

Born in 1998, Federica Belli is a visual artist from Liguria– in the countryside of northern Italy. She has graduated in Economics & Management at Bocconi University in Milan, she has worked as an assistant to Oliviero Toscani at FABRICA (Venice) and in New York. After that, her formation has continued with History of Photography and Contemporary Art at the École du Louvre. She lives between Paris and Mexico City, exploring the materiality of photography as a proxy of the body, alongside master printer Diamantino Quintas.

In 2021, the year of her debut in Milan with VALERIABELLA gallery, she won the BNL BNP Paribas Prize. Since then, her work has been presented at the major international photography fairs — including Paris Photo, Photo London, Zsona Maco, ArtParis and MIA Photo Fair — as well as at the Digital Art Pavilion of the 2022 Venice Biennale and in institutional exhibitions such as Photographers! at the Forte di Belvedere in Florence — curated by Walter Guadagnini — and Exposed in the city of Turin.

In 2024, she has been selected by Exibart as one of the 222 Emerging Artists to Invest In, and in 2026 she is part of the group of young Italian artists distinguished by the BCC-ICCREA group for the exhibition project BCC Arte e Cultura – Young Emerging Artists. In 2026 she has given a TEDx Talk devoted to her photographic practice. She has participated to the first edition of the Floating Art Hotel in Monaco, in occasion of the F1 Grand Prix, and her work is exhibited until October at the historic BULGARI boutique in Rome alongside the GIuseppe Iannaccone Collectio.

Her work is represented by VALERIABELLA in Italy, Almanaque Fotografica in Mexico and Bildhalle in Switzerland.

exhibitions

solo SHOWS

2026 Hierrofania. Galeria Almanaque Fotografica. Mexico City, Mexico.
Strange Attractor. Galleria Valeria Bella. Milan, Italy.
First Flight. BCC ICCREA Foundation. Carrù, Italy.
Exposed. Torino Photo Festival. Curated by Walter Guadagnini.

2024 Accidentally Found Out. Almanaque Fotografica. Mexico City, Mexico.
Mimesis. Lauri Viglione Associates. Milan, Italy.

2023 BULGARI Boutique. Florence, Italy.

2022 BNL Collection. MIA Photo Fair. Milan, Italy.

2021 Flashback OperaViva. Turin, Italy.

2018 Up to now. Millesimo, Italy.

2016 Millesimi, faces of a town. Millesimo, Italy.

SELECTED group SHOWS

2026 Self Storage. Curated by Nicolas de Cherisey & Philippine de Salaberry
Floating Art Hotel. Curated exhibition in occasion of Monaco F1 Grand Prix.
EXPOSED. Curated by Walter Guadagnini.
Bodies of Light. Duo show with Collezione lannaccone at BULGARI Rome.
ZSONAMACO. Mexico City, Mexico.
MIA Photo Fair. Milan, Italy.
The Phair. Turin, Italy.

2025 Watered Down Senses. Almanaque Fotografica. Mexico City, Mexico.
ArtMiami. Miami, USA. Bildhalle Gallery.
ArtParis. Paris, France. Bildhalle Gallery.
Zsona Maco. Mexico City, Mexico.
VIVA. Agrigento, Sicily, Italy. Capitale della Cultura 2025.
IRINOX Save the Food. Milan, Italy.
MIA Photo Fair. Milan, Italy.

2024 Ofrenda. Almanaque Fotografica. Mexico City, Mexico.
Paris Photo Fair. Paris, France.
Fujikina. Superstudio Events. Fujifilm ambassadors' show.
MIA Photo Fair. Milan, Italy.

2023 Kyro Art Gallery. Pietrasanta, Italy.
ArteFiera. Bologna, Italy.
Paris Photo Fair. Paris, France.
Photo London. London. UK.

2022 Paris Photo Fair. Paris, France.
The Phair. Turin, Italy.
DecentralArt Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia. Venice, Italy.

2021 MIA Photo Fair. Milan, Italy.
Quartet. Galleria ValeriaBella. Milan, Italy.
Art Rights Prize. Online.

2020 ICP. #ICPconcerned. Online & New York, USA.
LagosPhoto Festival #HOMEMuseum. Online.

2019 Fotografia Europea. Reggio Emilia, Italy.

2018 Reciprocity Design Festival. Liège, Belgium.

2017 Art and Milan. Milan, Italy.

2013 Postcards. Millesimo, Italy.

awards

2021 Premio BNL. Acquisition of the winning photograph by BNL.
16th Julia Margaret Cameron Award. 2nd Place in Fine Art.
Isorropia Home Gallery Partner Prize.

2020 Art Rights Prize. Finalist.
Getty Images. “Where we stand” bursary, Creatives in quarantine.

2019 TEDx Talk. “How can photography unite people?”

2018 Master of Photography. 1st place. Held by Sky Arts in Rome, Italy.

2017 BAGmi: Art & Milan. 2nd place. Held by Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.

2013 Postcards. 1st place. Millesimo, Italy.

education

2022 École du Louvre. Contemporary Art & History of Photography.

2021 Workshop with Guia Besana on Staged Portraiture.
Fotografia Europea. PHOTOGRAPH-ER scholarship.

2019 - Present Photoeditor & Contributor at Musée Magazine. New York.

2017 - 2020 Bachelor in Economics and Management at Bocconi University. Milan, Italy.

2019 Mentorship by Chris Buck. Montclair, New Jersey.
Photography Scholarship at Fabrica Research Center.

2018 Workshop by Franco Fontana: Colors in photography.
Workshop by Erik Kessels: Amateur!
Lecture by Mark Sealy: Photography in racial time.
Workshop by Jonathan de Villiers: Picture Thinking.

publications