About
Salvatore Gullifa (b. 1978, Sydney, Australia) is a photographer and artist based in Amsterdam. He came to photography sideways. Trained in Graphic Design and then forged across two decades as an Art Director in advertising, he spent years behind briefs rather than cameras, working alongside some of the world's leading commercial photographers. It was one of them, British photographer Rick Guest, who placed a Mamiya 7 in his hands on set and told him to shoot. That moment changed the direction of everything.
His work explores displacement, cultural identity, and the search for home through landscape. Working with shellac and gold leaf, he transforms the photographic surface into something that evolves over time, marked by chance and memory.
Gullifa's use of gold leaf, inherited from his father, a Sicilian immigrant and painter, connects his Italian heritage to his examination of Australian identity. The gold leaf transforms the surface, catching light in ways that echo the shimmer of ocean waves. Shellac applied to prints introduces unpredictability, allowing images to evolve beyond their moment of capture, staining like time itself.
His ongoing series Before the Day Goes examines the legacy of mid-century Australian racism through seascapes photographed from a clifftop vantage point, creating what the artist describes as an "intimate distance" between observer and place. Thorned and Palmed explores ritual return and landscape as emotional territory across five summers in rural France.
Gullifa has completed residencies at La Babuch, Indre, France, studying under Vanessa Winship, George Georgiou, Raymond Meeks, Adrianna Ault, Israel Ariño, and Clara Gassull Quer. His work has been exhibited at The Gallery Club Presents – The Living Room (2020) and in his first solo exhibition, Disco Vernissage (2024). He received a Finalist placing in the Hariban Award, Japan (2020). His photographs are held in private collections internationally.
Available Works
Works are available for acquisition in limited editions. Each print is handmade by the artist on archival paper, with shellac and gold leaf applied by hand, making every piece unique. For information about available works, pricing, or commissions, please contact the artist.
Commissions & Collaborations
Salvatore is available for portrait sessions, editorial assignments, and creative collaborations. For inquiries, please get in touch.