34 hrs studio’s “On Modern Plagues” is a photography project born in London in early 2013 through the collaboration of Paolo Rizzi and Michele Stroppa.

The project opens with a series entitled “Animal Mask”, an embodiment of the inner self and the inner feelings of todays modern man.

The execution of this concept is achieved through the repetitious use of silicon prey and draft animal masks illustrating a system of hierarchy, a metaphorical reincarnation of the various stages of being, skillfully mixed to highlight the continual struggle of the gain and loss of control. This series closes with the model removing the mask. The shedding of the mask brings the awakening and the beginning of the narration of the second series.

The second series “on Modern Plagues” opens with the supposed narrator, a young man writing on his old typewriter. His nightmare has now finished but is still present beneath him. The horse mask acts as a motif throughout the series illustrating how, the nightmare even in its dormancy, is still existent and will prevail. This is to remind the audience that what is before them is not just an image, but is a human being who is relatable, a human being who is both a product and a victim of his internal and external conflicts.
The power that can grow to be uncontrollable, the fear that can grow to be untameable and the reigning chaos.

The story is told without any statement. The images are completely subjective, unaffected by a superior authority or judgement. This series strides to represent the current times without biased opinions by way of photo journalism, facts of reality brought to studio to be staged by placing the focus on micro details rather than macro details of a story, no background or direct information, giving the viewer the opportunity to decide what exactly they are seeing.

The fashion style approach taken with these series will be more established in the upcoming works which are to be released in the near future. The project is ongoing and there are many stones left unturned for the 34 hrs studio, politics, economics and fractured social systems to name a few. There are regular image updates as work is still ongoing.

Creative Director: Paolo Rizzi
Photographer: Michele Stroppa

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