Sebastian Magnani sees what others miss. With a camera, he captures the quiet poetry behind the mask, the cinematic tension in everyday spaces, the unexpected warmth inside surreal scenes. His Daily Bat isn’t a parody – it’s a portrait of us all: flawed, heroic, exhausted, dreaming. Technically masterful and emotionally honest, Magnani’s work lets imagination and reality collide in ways that linger far beyond the frame.
Sebastian Magnani (b. 1985, Brig/Valais, Switzerland) is a Zurich-based photographer and visual storyteller known for merging cinematic aesthetics with deep emotional resonance. With a background in media design and years spent in the advertising world, he made the leap into full-time photography in 2011 to follow his true passion. For over a decade, he has worked with global clients such as Apple, The New York Times, IWC Schaffhausen and Universal Music, while also building a strikingly personal and imaginative body of artistic work.
His latest and perhaps most iconic series, Daily Bat, transforms the legendary Batman into a surprisingly relatable character. No longer just a crime-fighting myth, Magnani’s Batman leans against vintage cars, sips cognac or lights a cigarette in quiet cafés. These surreal, filmic scenes playfully subvert expectations, placing a symbol of strength and justice into moments of stillness, rest and humanity. By keeping the mask on, Magnani preserves the myth – but softens it, creating space for identification, humor and reflection.
What begins as a sketch on paper becomes, through meticulous location scouting, lighting studies, and styled direction, a hyper-real image that blurs fiction and reality. His signature use of bold color palettes and dramatic contrast evokes both graphic novels and classic cinema, while always grounding his subjects in emotional truth.
Magnani’s photographic worlds are deeply thought out, yet effortlessly striking – reflective of an artist who values freedom, independence and lasting visual impact. His work has been shown internationally in exhibitions from New York to Sydney, Shanghai to Paris and he has been awarded multiple prizes including the Red Dot Award, One Eyeland Gold and FAPA Conceptual Award.
