Francesco Arese Visconti
Francesco Arese Visconti, PhD, is an Italian and Swiss scholar of visual communication, a photographer, and a professor at the Geneva Campus of Webster University, St. Louis, USA. He serves as Deputy Academic Director, and directs the Webster Center for Creativity and Innovation. His research investigates the intersections of migration, identity, and photographic representation. His latest book The Invisible Diaspora (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) examines 21st-century Italian migrants in Switzerland’s Arc Lémanique region.
His photographic work, exhibited widely across Europe, centers on the sociocultural narratives of migrant communities. Among his notable exhibitions are presentations at the Swiss Pavilion during EXPO 2015 in Milan and at the National Museum of Italian Emigration in Genoa in 2024. His research also extends to African immigration in Switzerland and to the Italian-Chinese community in Prato, Italy.
A recipient of the William T. Kemper Award for Excellence in Teaching, Arese Visconti is active in several academic and professional associations and is also trained as an archaeologist. He holds a PhD in Photography from the University of Westminster in the UK and an MA in Archaeology from the University of Florence in Italy. He is affiliated with The Image Research Network, Spectrum – Photography in Switzerland, and the Professional Photographers’ Association of Switzerland (SIYU).