\u201cHe had two very big, destroyed journals,\u201d says Davide\u2019s mother, the photographer Francesca Sorrenti. \u201cThey weren\u2018t private. When friends came over, they were going through them. They were very based on his friendships.\u201d Born with a rare blood disorder called thalassemia, Davide died in 1997, aged 20; his journals, as a result, speak uniquely to how he saw and engaged with the world, embodying the same energy that Sorrenti and others remember on screen (\u201cHe was a juvenile delinquent angel,\u201d she says affectionately). Now the journals are being released, starting with Davide Sorrenti Journals: Volume 01 1994-1995, edited by his mother and published by Idea, with whom she has published three other books of Davide\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did the first book basically right after the documentary,\u201d Sorrenti continues. \u201cWe were so amazed by the following, and the amount of people that came [to screenings] was unbelievable. In New York, we did three showings, and at the first there was a massive storm that flooded New York \u2013 the theatre was packed. I\u2018m like, \u2018Davide, where did this all come from?\u2019. At Dover Street Market [for the book launch] I was expecting a bunch of 40-year-olds to show up, and the majority were kids.\u201d While excerpts from the journals have appeared in the previous books \u2013 ArgueSKE 1994-1997 (2019), 2020\u2019s Polaroids, and My Beautyfull Lyfe (2022) \u2013 this new volume is no doubt the most personal, showcasing the visual language the photographer applied to those that came into his orbit, and the annotations he extended to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Volume 01 is filled with photo collages, contact sheets, photo booth strips, sketches, stickers, magazine pages and scribbles, with the addition of texts from those who knew him. \u201cDavide was an artist \u2013 he could draw, paint. Of course, he was a graffiti writer. The journals were something that he saw his brother do \u2013 I guess Mario is the one that inspired him to start,\u201d says Sorrenti, reflecting on the connection between Davide and his older brother, the photographer Mario Sorrenti<\/a> (his sister Vanina is also a fashion photographer).<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just the way his brain worked. Whatever he did went into his diary along with his daily life,\u201d she adds. \u201cThere was no rhyme or reason. I remember once seeing that he did stuff in the back of the book and not in the front.\u201d Naturally echoing his interests, the book\u2019s pages, like a classic diary, marry various components of his life \u2013 for Davide, this meant the masthead of a magazine featuring Sorrenti, \u2018Portrait of Mommy (Interview)\u2019 handwritten above it, as well as an early shoot with his friend Ryan Jackalone skateboarding in a business suit. \u201cThis was the beginning of his love for photography. In this book, everybody\u2018s very young, and then they get older in the next one. That\u2018s the highlight of this book, that there\u2018s a certain youth going on. They\u2019re kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>
![\"Davide](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/467502.jpg\")
Davide Sorrenti Journals: Volume 01 1994-1995Courtesy of Idea<\/p>\n
![\"Davide](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/467501.jpg\")
Davide Sorrenti Journals: Volume 01 1994-1995Courtesy of Idea<\/p>\n