After launching his career in Paris and working internationally, Badessi moved to the U.S. in the early '90s, where his decade-long focus on the human figure culminated in SKIN (Edition Stemmle, 2000), with a foreword by Whitney Museum photography committee founder Sondra Gilman. His work weaves symbolism, mythology, and cultural references to examine religion, war, environment, and power—always asking the questions that linger just beneath the surface.

Badessi's photographs live in major private and public collections worldwide. His recent series Age of Innocence was exhibited at London's National Portrait Gallery for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize and New York's National Arts Club, with a book released internationally in 2020 by Editions Images Plurielles. His work has been shown in New York, Los Angeles, London, Miami, and beyond.