Federico Solmi
In his typical sardonic and irreverent style, Somi's video portrait series entitled, The Brotherhood (2015-2016), parodies the iconography of historical portraiture, creating his own absurd portraits of our most feared and beloved historic leaders. These mythical leaders are presented as members of The Brotherhood, an organization that has the goals to keep chaos in the world and promote the degeneration of the human race. Solmi portrays history as propaganda—fabricated, manipulated, and carefully crafted by leaders and governments in order to suit their needs. The Brotherhood addresses how our knowledge of the past is always skewed, incomplete, and irresolute. Solmi challenges us to question our beliefs towards history and claims that through our own patriotic or religious partisanship, we may be perpetuating these myths ourselves.