Yes to a Rosy Future

Yes To A Rosy Future documents Righetti's stay in Syria and presents the photos taken during this time, captioned with statements from Bashar al Assad s official speeches. An afterword by Christian Bråndle, director of the Zurich Design Museum, considers the relationship between the ruler and his people and how his image is used to hint at his omnipresence a smiling face, always there for his loyal subjects. With the Arab Spring and the protests that took place in Syria starting in early 2011, this relationship was questioned and tested. One thing is certain Bashar al Assad is still there for his people, whether they want him to be or not. The propagandistic images and slogans of 2007 have taken on a new relevance: images of triumphant power and his obdurate statements reveal a completely different portrait, that of the smiling face of repression.

Nicolas Righetti was born in Geneva in 1967 and studied at the Beaux-Arts de Geneve. His travels, particularly in Asia, sparked in interest in totalitarian politicians and how they are represented and this became the basis for Righetti s work to come. Righetti is a member of the photo agency Rezo and works for numerous publications, including La Repubblica, Newsweek, The New Yorker and The New York Times. Yes To A Rosy Future is Righetti's third book exploring how power is projected within dictatorships and capturing the megalomaniacal leaders of such regimes. The Last Paradise, Righetti's book on North Korea (published by Olizane/Umbrage), won the 2004 Swiss Press Award in the 'Foreign' category. He then went on to receive the World Press First Prize in the category 'Portrait Stories' in 2007 for his work on the former head of Turkmenistan which was published by Trolley in the book, Love Me Turkmenistan.