cardinals and criminals
randall scott gallery, NY
18 febb. – 27 marzo 2010
Marco Delogu has always embarked on projects focused on groups of people who have experiences or idioms in common, and in doing so has always drawn inspiration from his own life.
The idea of photographing Vatican Cardinals (Cardinali) for example was inspired by Delogu’s uncle who was a Bishop. Photographed in their private chapels, their apartments, austere or regal, in the magnificent Vatican buildings or in their hospital beds, these portraits recall the iconography of classical painting while being in the language of contemporary portraiture.
Captivity (Cattività), Delogu’s portraits of criminals in Rome’s Rebibbia Prison stems from his fear of imprisonment, a constant concern for the people of his generation and their extreme expressions of the political struggles of the 70’s. After twenty years, many of Delogu’s former schoolmates are still in prison.
Cardinals and Criminals are complete opposites. Each represent societal extremes: Good and Evil. However, through Delogu’s lens, these opposites manifest a collision of ethos and pathos. Delogu sees each person as an inhabitant within a web of imposed and self-imposed rules and regulations that are indecipherable to those who do not know their experience. Beyond the rules are men and women just trying to survive.
