“In order to produce the photo series, Real Woman Photoshop, Tommaso Bonaventura worked in a photo studio of the same name in Shenzhen/China. Young workers from the huge electronic factory opposite the studio oftencome to have portrait photos made of themselves either as keepsakes or to send home to their families. Bonaventura used the available settings – wall-size posters of idyllic landscapes – for his photographs of workers and mixed them with photographs by the studio owner. What is being dealt with here is the longing for idyllic settings, small escapes from the realities of daily life, the dream of a better life. These are very personal statements because here – in contrast to the mass-market operations in the factory – the individual is the centre of attention.”

Petra Noll, Portraits between Reality and Fiction, Fotogalerie Wien, 2013