We Are Family, the first retrospective exhibition devoted to the young artist in Italy, is the next event of the Homecoming cycle, offering a view of a queer family, a group united by desire and affinity, and held together by love and by the special camera that, in the hands of Raeli, never stops taking pictures. In the wake of references like Nan Goldin, Ryan McGinley and Olivia Bee, the artist portrays his friends, his loves, his sorrows and his city, with an intimate, passionate eye.

Raeli has been a compulsive photographer for over ten years (and he is only 29!). He applies an autobiographical dimension to his work, while operating on a universal plane, depicting the loves of a twenty-year-old but also an idea of family that challenges every stereotype: we love whoever we choose, those who resemble us, those who have the ability to understand our fragility amid the chaos of the world. We love those who embrace our changing selves, beyond the ties of blood, social convention or contract. We love regardless of the gender identity in which we recognize ourselves, and without regard for what we “should be”, as imposed by others. Because love can happen anywhere – under a sky of artificial stars at the amusement park in Capaci, in the last swim, late at night, in the sea at Mondello – and can last forever, or only the time of a kiss.