Portrait of Andrea Appino and his ambitious concept album exploring the sound of humanity
Andrea Appino, singer of Zen Circus, spent eight years creating "Humanize" - a concept album exploring humanity through interviews, soundscapes, and music. This editorial assignment for Ful Magazine documents the artist in his intimate studio space where the ambitious project took its final form.
The photography captures the essence of creative solitude and artistic contemplation, documenting Appino's investigation into what makes the "sound of humanity" - from radio static to human voices, from calculated compositions to pure anthropological research.
"What sound does humanity make? A mix of varied and contradictory sounds covering the entire frequency spectrum."
This assignment required documenting not just a musician, but a anthropological researcher. After eight years of gestation, Andrea Appino's "Humanize" represents a unique approach to concept albums - combining audio documentary, soundscapes, and original compositions inspired by hundreds of interviews with people from all walks of life.
The photography focuses on the intimate creative process, capturing Appino in his essential studio space where solitude becomes necessary for artistic reflection. The images explore the contradiction between creating deeply human work through calculated, almost "inhuman" methodology.
"I wanted to make an audio documentary about humanity, along the lines of Pasolini's 'Comizi d'amore'. Ask people questions, record the answers... It's pure anthropology."