SKIN, and Under, the Book

In “SKIN. And Under,” Mattio’s lens descends, like Orpheus into the underworld, beneath the inked armor, the studded leather, the carefully constructed facades of masculinity. What he finds there, in the subterranean chambers of the heart, is not hardness, not the steel of the warrior, but the trembling flesh of youth, exposed and luminous.

Each portrait is a palimpsest, a parchment where the stories of struggle and vulnerability are etched over the smooth skin of adolescence. The nudity is not a provocation, but a revelation, an offering of truth laid bare on the altar of the lens. These young men are not merely subjects; they are oracles, their bodies inscribed with the poetry of their own becoming.

Mattio’s work is a challenge, a mirror held up to our own rigid notions of gender. It asks us to look beyond the muscles and the bravado, to see the tender, beating heart beneath. To recognize that true strength lies not in the refusal to feel, but in the courage to be vulnerable, to be open, to be utterly and completely human.

In the end, “SKIN. And Under” is more than just a collection of photographs; it is an invitation, a beckoning into the shadowed depths of the human spirit. It is a reminder that even in the most hardened of shells, there exists the potential for softness, for beauty, for a love that transcends the boundaries of flesh and bone.

Printed to the highest standards, the book features finely crafted reproductions using a sophisticated 4/4 tone process (2 blacks + 2 Pantones) with full-background protective varnish on 170-gram matte coated paper. Each image commands attention with its depth and clarity, inviting the viewer into an intimate world where the subjects’ innermost emotions and identities are laid bare.