D,D&D - The Brighter The Light The Darker The Shadow

Jofetto

On the occasion of the new moon in Scorpio in November 2025, Jo Fetto opens his London studio for The Brighter the Light the Darker the Shadow, an intimate encounter with his evolving analogue practice and a preview of his forthcoming book D,D&D.

The works on display span across some of Jo Fetto’s most meaningful travels and memories. Displayed as portals into the artist’s exploration of masculinity, discipline, fight and sacrifice.

The first image is Docking, shot in Berlin in 2022 during Fetto’s time in the city. Portraying the practice of docking in action, this image reflects on sexual desire, heteronormative residue, and vulnerability, while posing questions on what the artist describes as a ‘patriarchal delirium’.

The display follows with a series of family portraits shot in Naples in 2021, showing the artist and his father while practicing judo. When these self-portraits were conceived, Jo Fetto hadn’t spoken to his father for at least four years, after when they decided to confront him and document the encounter as part of their artistic practice.

Docking (Berlin,2022), Papa (Naples, 2021), Sonicide (Naples, 2021)

Papa (Naples, 2021)

Like Son Like Father and Sonicide (Naples, 2021)

The images merge themes of fight, violence and aggression with acts of intimacy, bound and spiritual resistance - mirroring judo’s essence as a discipline of spiritual development and mutual respect. Perceived today as psychological and meta-narrative acts by the artist, these portraits exorcise years of silence, projection and trauma, and transform carried burdens into acceptance.

This leads to the final works on display: two large prints shot this summer in Tokyo, Japan during Jo Fetto’s exploration of judo’s physical and spiritual philosophy, a practice that has shaped them since childhood.

Here, the willow tree and the act of bending intertwine, representing the core essence of judo - where force is not directly resisted, rather welcomed through balance, skill and momentum.

The Brighter the Light, the Bigger the Shadow invites into the nest-like nature of Fetto’s studio, a space where practice, psyche, and process intermingle, offering a conversation with an artist for whom images operate as both documentation and divination.

Using Format

JO FETTO