A white semi-truck with a religious message on the side, reading 'JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, ALMIGHTY GOD, THE FIRST AND THE LAST,' parked in a lot with trees and a building in the background.

Signs of Belief

About the Project

Every culture encodes its beliefs somewhere visible. The question is whether you know how to read the signs.

Signs of Belief is a long-term documentary project examining how faith expresses itself in public space across three cultures — American, English, and Italian. As an Italian photographer shaped by a European tradition where religion is ancient, stone-bound and institutional, I find myself drawn to the ways other cultures wear their belief on their sleeve, or deliberately conceal it.

2017 — ongoing

The Project - Three Parts

Each part of this project is a discrete body of work — one country, one visual language of faith, one outsider eye.

Part 1 — Gospel of the Gulf Texas & Louisiana, 2017 — completed

In the American South I found faith that is transient, neon-lit and industrial. From highway declarations at the scale of a lorry to the quiet, tender gestures of private devotion, the Gulf Coast is a territory where the sacred and the everyday are inextricably linked. This is a culture that does not hide its belief — it broadcasts it.

A large white truck with red text on the side, parked in a lot with trees and buildings in the background. The text reads 'JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, ALMIGHTY GOD, THE FIRST AND THE LAST.'
A motorcycle shop with signs and banners, including American flags and red, white, and blue pennants, behind a chain-link fence, with trees and blue sky in the background.
Wall-mounted decorative metal keys and keychains with engraved or embossed tags and symbols, some with words like 'Blessings' and dates, hanging in a row.
A person sitting at a table at night with a sign that says 'Tarot Card Readings' in front of them. The scene is blurred with warm lights in the background.
A person's hand reaching out in front of a blurred background with the words 'Palle Pedersen' visible above.
Hand-painted decorative skull with colorful floral and geometric designs, inspired by Día de los Muertos, held by a person with facial makeup resembling a sugar skull.
Black and white photo of a storefront with a sign that reads 'Variedades Latinas Libreria Cristiana.' There are cars parked in front of the store and the image includes the entrance and large windows with displays inside.
Sign for New Life Harvest Church with service times, surrounded by trees and grass in an outdoor setting.
People gathered in a church or religious setting, with a woman at the front and a man near her on stage, all facing the congregation, and some congregation members raising their hands in worship or prayer.
A screen displaying instructions on how to give money by texting 'GIVE' to a phone number in a large auditorium filled with people attending an event at DC Comics.
Black and white photo of a parking lot with a chain-link fence and signage reading 'Priest Parking Only.' Plants grow along the fence, and there is a large building or structure in the background.
Close-up black and white photo of a person's hand resting on a bookshelf, wearing rings. Another person is in the background, partially visible, with long hair and a shirt, looking downward.

Part 2 — Signs of Belief: England United Kingdom, 2021 — in development

The English relationship with faith is almost the opposite of Texas — private, understated, expressed in stone and silence rather than neon and declaration. Churchyards, quiet Sunday rituals, the architecture of belief in a post-religious culture. Where does faith go when a country stops going to church?

Part 3 — Signs of Belief: Italy Italy — forthcoming

Coming home with foreign eyes. Italy is where faith is so embedded in daily life that it becomes invisible to those who live inside it. The outsider eye sees what the native no longer notices.