A good neighborhood with Jon Bronxl
“Activism is doing things and yes, you can predict that something will change but many little things can be changed immediately”
Who are you, what are you doing today and how did you come to do it?
Jon Bronxl is the name they gave me when I was playing basketball because I lived in a town called Ca Baroncello, then from Ca Baroncello to Ca Bronx and then it became Bronxl as a nickname. In Veneto, I studied clothing design, so I was a menswear designer. Then over time, I could not keep up with all the living expenses, since I had to pay for everything myself and since I did not come from a wealthy family, so I had to give up my career as a designer to work in retail, which I have been doing for like 10 years. I progressed to concept stores because that’s what I liked. I said I can’t be a designer but at least I work in cool places, I’ve always worked in concept stores around the Veneto region and then I arrived in Milan five years ago. Still [working] in a concept store, from there, Milan became the city where I was able to cultivate this passion for photography that I started when I was 20, so 10 years of shooting small things to then one day say: “Okay, I’ll give it a go” and now I’m a photographer and I’m doing well. I am also thankful for these definitive choices that I had to make. I’ve always been a person who gave up and started again without much fear. When I left Veneto and arrived in Milan, I had a thousand euros in my bank account and I decided to take everything, load the car and arrive in Milan blindly. And I became what I am today.
When you say photographer, do you mean you do it professionally? What kind of photography?
Yes, I’m a professional photographer and a portraitist. I specialise in portraiture but I also work with several brands. Now I am with three photographers who do various projects. However, getting there is already something because I believe that following a project is good enough for your CV as they are not the typical look-books [done] with a classic white background. When they call you they always give you some free space for creativity so you choose the photographer based on your style. I go from super classic to streetwear, underground and so on.
Tell us more about The Good Neighborhood Collective.
Initially, I had opened this page on Instagram under a different name, I don’t remember what it was, and I used it to collect all the worldwide materials from the Black world — from Black photographers to musicians — because I wanted young people in Italy to be on top of what was happening around the world. I have always seen that the Italian Black has always been a little duller. Same with white, in the sense that Italy has always been a bit slower to understand the progress of things, of music, of trends. One day I said, why do something like that that didn’t have a big following anyway, it’s not like you can force people to change. Then I said, I’d rather do an educational thing, a message. Then it occurred to me to start looking for Afro-Italian talents, not only Black people but also Italians and to let them explain how they became who they are today. I chose the ones I liked, so they could be an example for the younger kids. If you live in a city like Milan you can grow up quite quickly because you are in the widest city in Italy so in terms of trends or things you are always up to date, but if you come from a small town like, for example, me coming from Treviso, there was the stereotype of the classic cool guy with skinny jeans, with a bit of a footballer style, a bit like Balotelli, I don’t know if you get what I mean, a little bit tacky. That is the classic Black person that you see around and I wanted to show them that [being] Black doesn’t just mean that, Black is also a mix of other American iconographies, Steve Lacy, Burna Boy, all these things and people we don’t have here [in Italy]. So I made a selection of musicians, doctors, anyone, creatives, photographers so that a young person could look and say “oh man, I can become this too” and not just Balotelli or those Black people here on TV who make us believe that there is only that stereotype there.
I wanted them to understand that they could take inspiration from other things, I never advertised myself because they told me “why don’t you publish yourself?” First of all, I am not a person who likes to stand out, I prefer this to be a generic thing and something that remains the image of a “collective” because, in the end, whoever is published on this page is part of this idea that I have created. They have to feel like they participate and then it’s my turn because I see many Black people who have pages and only show themselves, that’s not my aim. This is Good Neighborhood. Then the other main thing is to make people understand that in any case Black people, or in any case the generation that is coming [of Black people], can be bankers. Today, you only see people who are purely white or in any case Italian people. Instead, you can also study economics and go to work in a bank — I’m finding pharmacists or doctors, everyone! This is to break the rules of the canons with which we grew up, this is a bit of the purpose of The Good Neighborhood.
Then it occurred to me to start looking for Afro-Italian talents, not only Black people but also Italians and to let them explain how they became who they are today. I chose the ones I liked, so they could be an example for the younger kids.
How do you see this coexistence between the creative and activist part, as it seems to me that we have reached a point where the marriage seems at times happy and at times contradictory?
An activist yes, but from a certain point of view, it is silent activism. I criticise activists in Italy a little bit, and this is my opinion, because I have seen young people, BIPOC people, grow up in the world of activism many times, for almost an image that manages to return to them. So I had some disagreements with some activist kids, etc. because I was saying: “You are here doing activism but where is the respect for what you do?” I am a person who, if I say one thing, I will do it. The example I gave is music, I said let’s get used to understanding that there is not only Afrobeat, rap etc. and that there are other genres [of music]. I started researching for other Afro-Italian artists who make soul, indie and it worked because they have already invited us to the Triennale and we are already at the second part, the next is June 29th, and so on.
This is activism for me. Activism is doing things and yes, you can predict that something will change but many little things can be changed immediately so if you have an Instagram page, whatever you say on the page people can’t say no to you or that you can’t say it because the internet is free and it’s for everyone. So I’m an activist but to talk about activism, in my opinion, put it as a way of saying, of making people understand that the important thing for me is to take action, that’s it. This is a bit of my way of being.
