Be My Nest

Be My Nest (London, 2020) is a book that investigates the relationship between subconscious and domestic spaces; about intimacy and those places which allow us to be intimate.

The idea for the book came from a striking scene of a child resting on his father’s chest that Jo had witnessed in India 5 years ago. That scene prompted them to reflect on their relationship with their own father and family; they interpreted the chest as a figurative shelter for the child, and they began to explore the idea of a metaphorical nest – not a physical space, but the complex of relationships that safeguard and protect us from the outer world.

The photographic investigation began in Naples but then turned into an extended process of self-discovery free from physical and geographical connotations - from the Neapolitan Femminielli and rooms purposefully decorated to strike an enchanting balance between reality and fiction, to Milan- and London-based queer scenes, to travels across India and Peru, to small, daily moments of affection and eroticism during the lockdown and before. The result is a coming-of-age documentation mirrored by the delicacy of the lens on the inside and by the tactile velvet hardback cover on the outside.

Be My Nest is permeated by a gentle, underlying sense of melancholy that accompanies Jo Fetto’s nests: people, places, communities, and ethereal moments that offer empathy and refuge from the hectic pace of everyday life. It’s an ode to their safe spaces; a celebration of the family that gave them life and an homage to the one that has kept them alive.