Davide Sorrenti's Journals Reveal the Mind Behind the '90s Countercultural Moment
A new book by IDEA honors the teenage fashion photographer that defined a decade.
Summary
- IDEA has published Davide Sorrenti Journals: Volume 1 1994–1995, a collection of notebooks by the legendary, late fashion photographer
- Curated and edited by Francesca Sorrenti, the artist’s mother, the book collects ideas, scribbles, images, test prints and flyers that shaped his enduring creative vision
The emerging creative vanguard of the early ’90s tilted toward the raw. The polished, prim ideals of the previous decade had lost their shine, and in their place came a hunger for something more lived-in and real. Out of this moment, now known as “heroin chic”, came a cohort of names including Corinne Day, David Sims, Juergen Teller and, prominently, Davide Sorrenti, who together defined the look of counterculture. While Sorrenti’s career was short-lived, having tragically passed away just shy of his 20th birthday, his artistic imprint continues to endure, rattling the world of fashion photography and image culture at large.
IDEA is honoring that vision with Davide Sorrenti Journals: Volume 1 1994–1995, a new monograph, curated and edited by his mother, Francesca Sorrenti. Started when the artist was just 17, the book gathers ideas, drawings, writing, tear and contact sheets, Polaroids, test prints and flyers from the young luminary across 192 pages, surviving as a creative record and an emotional time capsule of his legacy.“ Davide’s journals were never just notebooks. They were fragments of a restless life,” wrote Francesca. “Each page reflects the way [he] saw the world: raw, immediate, unfiltered, and deeply human.”
Joining a growing body of posthumous work on the artist — titles like, ArgueSKE 1994–1997, Polaroids, My Beautyfull Lyfe and the 2018 documentary See Know Evil — the journals arrive as the most personal by far. Embedded between every page and scribble sits a new portrait of youth — each as incandescent and intimate as the next.
“To open these journals is to step into Davide’s world – a world that was fast, beautiful, and filled with love. They remind us that he wasn’t only documenting a culture; he was documenting a life – his life – in all its intensity and fragility.”
Davide Sorrenti Journals: Volume 1 1994–1995 is now available via IDEA for $90 USD.
