FRANCIS DELACROIX (YOUNG GOATS)

Francis Delacroix: From documenting the Italian trap scene to fashion. And further. 

Turin-born photographer Francis Delacroix has a story of many chapters.

Born in 1995, the young Delacroix (also and maybe better known as @younggoats) left Italy right after the completion of his high school years, moving to Los Angeles, California.

While in L.A., driven by both his passion for photography and his wish to involve himself in artistic circles, Delacroix was able to fall into Tyler, The Creator’s good graces. His catalogue of documenting artist’s more intimate side had started strong by having photographed Tyler and his associates as soon he started his career.

The tone had been set: Delacroix’s vocation for photographing artists on film would constitute his work to come. 

After this formative yet incredibly fortunate start, the young photographer returned home, not switching his formula, but changing the subject. By 2015-16, a phenomenon was ready to catch the world of Italian art by storm, and that was the rise to prominence of Italian trap music.

Dark Polo Gang, a now fully established trap posse (at the time composed of Dark Pyrex, Dark Side, Wayne Santana and Tony Effe), was at the front and centre of this movement. Delacroix’s sharp intuition for potentially successful acts and ability to integrate himself into artistic cliques struck again, and so came his long collaboration with DPG.

While the now re-baptized Younggoats had in many ways preceded the now profession of shooting rappers on film (à-la Gunnerstahl) by shooting Tyler, The Creator, it was this collaboration with DPG that made his name known in the Italian culture. His repertoire of subjects then enlarged itself to the point that citing “the whole Italian rap scene” would be an appropriate way to describe it.

After having established himself as the foremost documenter of the Italian urban scene, it would be photographing the world of international fashion that would constitute his new mission. And while Delacroix has never ceased to photograph Italian acts (FSK Satellite, Tauro Boys) as well as internationally known acts (Migos, Tyler, Kendall Jenner), Delacroix’s focus as of now seems to be that of documenting fashion as well as providing shoots for magazines. Where his journey leads him from here is yet unknown, but the adaptability of his style makes us sure that it will be a place of continued success.