ICONA is the photographic essay made by Toni Amengual during his stay at the Spanish Academy in Rome in 2021. Taking the eternal city as a field of work, the author reflects on the use of images as a device of social control.

The book includes photographs showing classical art, originally conceived as a form of propaganda by religious and political systems, and photographs of contemporary scenes. This combination evidences the direct relationship that exists between classical representations of art and current representations. In the contemporary photographs there is a constant presence of security cameras and cell phones to hint at the control by means of the image to which we are subjected today.

The publication in book form also takes into account the fact that the book itself is a system of control. To this end, Amengual tries to subvert the device by intervening it by folding pages. Folded by the author himself, each copy presents specific folds that make it unique. This gesture also generates new readings, relationships and volumes between the images that make up the book, turning it into a paper sculpture.