Courtesy of Carlo William Rossi
For many years I stubbornly decided not to get photographs of myself. Or, of course, to let anybody do that. I didn't hate me, I guess, but surely I deeply disliked what I saw in the mirror so, at some point, I ended up not having any mirror around. One of the challenges I faced during my psychotherapy was, in fact, to let anybody to photograph me. I still remember the pain. And I smile. Because one of the things that makes my Facebook page pretty popular is, precisely, the selfies that I take, almost every morning, in front of my elevator.
So when I met Carlo William Rossi through a common friend and he told that he wanted to photograph me, I thought he was kidding. Since the first time I eyed one of his images, I loved him and I felt again so inappropriate to model for him. But he made me beautiful and those shots are very precious for me. But more than this, we became friend and we started to support each other, mostly during the late hours of my day, due to the fact that Carlo, as New York, does not sleep hardly ever (he lives in Italy, so 6 hours ahead)
Carlo is a big fan of Madonna. Well, this is an understatement. He loves her. Just to get closer to the adoration he has and that is the very first reason why he became a photographer. He was fascinated by the fact that she was the woman more photographed in the world and with her obsession for details and perfection: a perfection that he constantly seeks to achive with his amazing work.
Courtesy of Carlo William Rossi
So, a few days ago, even if he was feverish and not feeling at his best, he couldn't resist the temptation to photoshop the cover of Suor Cristina's first CD (the Italian nun who won the last edition of the Italian "The Voice") that includes a new version of "Like a virgin", along with a video where "the sister" sings while walking in Venice, just like Madonna in 1984. The picture that Carlo realized was absolutely perfect and he instagrammed it. Two minutes later, Madonna reshared the picture and in 20 minutes, 50 thousand people liked it. Needless to say, the following day all the Italian media were talking about Carlo William Rossi and Madonna. A popularity that hopefully will give Carlo's work the much deserved appreciation, because he is an exquisite photographer and a talented artist.
I also wish, as a personal "almost that season of the year wish", that Madonna would give a deeper look at Carlo's art, or even contact him because besides his work, he is very much engaged in the fight to uphold the rights of the LGBT community at a time when Italy sadly seems to be going backward, with a lot of intolerable racism that is a shame for a civilized country. Furthermore, gay couples still have no right to marry, adopt and are still considered as something abnormal and wrong. Carlo created the image that is the logo of IKen Onlus, an association that fights to support LGBT and whose President, Carlo Cremona, has been happily in love, for the last 20 years or so, with Marco Maria Taglialatela: for my country though, they are invisible and their love has much less value than anyone else.
Courtesy of Carl William Rossi
Therefore, it would be great if Madonna decides to somehow express her support for Carlo William Rossi and the Italian LGBT community that - as in many other countries - needs that we all stand together for their right to be recognized and treated anything less than human beings.
Courtesy of Carl William Rossi