Stefano De Luigi : Perspectives
Italian photographer Stefano De Luigi is renowned for his engaged documentary and photojournalistic projects. Through his images, he explores a range of themes, such as the influence of Italian television on society in Telecracy, a project that analyzes the rise of Silvio Berlusconi and his impact on Italian culture. In this work, he critiques the superficiality and cultural decline encouraged by television since the 1980s, which has contributed to a loss of critical thinking and civic awareness.
On the occasion of Paris Photo, Televisiva, a book and photo series that continues Telecracy, delves into the tremendous seductive power of Italian television, its ability to shape behavior, tastes, and to reinforce superficiality in popular culture. It explores television’s massive impact on Italian society, highlighting how it influences lifestyles, values, and even individuals’ visual culture.
Through images that capture viewers’ fascination and alienation, De Luigi questions the omnipresence of television and its role in transforming Italian society over recent decades. Televisiva thus poses a subtle visual critique of the loss of individuality and the construction of reality through the screen, showing how image culture and the consumption of television content shapes and homogenizes society.
De Luigi has also worked on other significant photographic projects covering social and humanitarian subjects. His style is marked by a visual approach that is both aesthetic and direct, capturing the complexity of his subjects. He has collaborated with major international publications and received numerous awards, particularly for his approach that combines art with a testimony mission.
Instagram : stefano_de_luigi
Your first photographic trigger?
Stefano De Luigi : Curiosity
The man or woman of image who inspired you?
Stefano De Luigi : Robert Frank, Diane Arbus,Mario Giacomelli
The image you wish you had taken?
Stefano De Luigi : A photo of an elevator operator taken by Robert Frank (The Americans)
The one that moved you the most?
Stefano De Luigi : Diane Arbus’ Portrait of Triplets
And the one that made you angry?
Stefano De Luigi : The photos taken at Abu Ghraib
Which photo do you think changed the world?
Stefano De Luigi : None
And which photo changed your world?
Stefano De Luigi : Ray’s laugh from Richard Billingham
What interests you most in an image?
Stefano De Luigi : the layers of reading. The more they are present in an image, the deeper and more fascinating the photographer’s universe is deep and fascinating
What is the last photo you took?
Stefano De Luigi : Joseph Stalin’s Death Mask
A key image in your personal pantheon?
Stefano De Luigi : The cover photo of my next book “Televisiva” taken 30 years ago. It revealed to me that I could use photography as a universal language
A photographic memory from your childhood?
Stefano De Luigi : The albums of my father’s family who were settlers in Libya Somalia Eritrea and Ethiopia
In your opinion, what is the necessary quality to be a good photographer?
Stefano De Luigi : Curiosity
What do you think makes a good photo?
Stefano De Luigi : Complexity
Who would you like to photograph?
Stefano De Luigi : Concepts
An essential photo book?
Stefano De Luigi : Two books I often return to Chris Killip Vague a l’ame (Nathan Image ) Ray’s Laugh Richard Billingham (Scalo)
The camera from your childhood?
Stefano De Luigi : Pentax K 1000
The one you use today?
Stefano De Luigi : Fuji GFX 50
An upcoming project that is close to your heart?
Stefano De Luigi : There is but I’m superstitious
Your favorite addiction?
Stefano De Luigi : Nicotine
The best way for you to disconnect?
Stefano De Luigi : Sport
What is your personal relationship with the image?
Stefano De Luigi : I grew up in a city and a culture of images, even before it spread to the planet. Italy (Rome) the Catholic Church founded its empire on the imagery transmitted by its churches by its powerful transposition of miracles, sanctity and supreme power through works that are still admired today as absolute masterpieces in the history of art. It is therefore natural for me to say that my relationship with the image is absolute.
By whom would you like or would you have liked to be photographed?
Stefano De Luigi : Diane Arbus
Your latest folly?
Stefano De Luigi : Start again my sentimental life when I was 50
An image to illustrate a new banknote?
Stefano De Luigi : Man walking on the moon
Color or black and white?
Stefano De Luigi : It depends on the periods of my life
Daylight or studio light?
Stefano De Luigi : Daylight and Nightlite, never studio light
What, in your opinion, is the most photogenic city?
Stefano De Luigi : Tokyo
If God existed, would you ask him to pose for you or opt for a selfie with him?
Stefano De Luigi : A selfie to prove it really exists
In terms of social networks, are you more Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or Twitter and why?
Stefano De Luigi : Instagram and Facebook, I’m probably more in line with my age and my relation to image.
Do you think the explosion of social networks has changed our relationship with the image?
Stefano De Luigi : Yes, it is obvious. At first I thought that this would have made a multitude of people distant from the image literate in photography. I had not calculated the power of the algorithms that have flattened the potential of the platforms by standardizing aesthetics for commercial purposes. I had forgotten for a moment that I lived in this world
What does photography represent in your creative universe?
Stefano De Luigi : A source of inspiration alongside cinema, painting, literature and nature
What is the purpose of art, in your opinion?
Stefano De Luigi : say things without the filters commonly used to communicate. These things touch us directly without the possibility of control. This is why art is so scary to authoritarian governments
The image that represents for you the current state of the world?
Stefano De Luigi : an image that is difficult for us to read, because it is fluid, confused and liquid, a sort of portrait of Frankstein full of glitches I would say
The job you would not have liked to do?
Stefano De Luigi : Secret Agent
Your greatest professional extravagance?
Stefano De Luigi : A project that tells the odyssey with the help of two iPhones in 2012
What question could make you lose your temper?
Stefano De Luigi : how to take beautiful photos
And the question you wish someone would ask you but never has?
Stefano De Luigi : None, I am too curios not to ask
What is the last thing you did for the first time?
Stefano De Luigi : A one-on-one trip with my son
The city, country, or culture you dream of discovering?
Stefano De Luigi : The Mapuches in Chile
The place you never get tired of?
Stefano De Luigi : Japan
Your biggest regret?
Stefano De Luigi : Not being present at the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989
If I could organize your ideal dinner, who would be at the table?
Stefano De Luigi : Francis Bacon, Picasso, Goya
In your opinion, what is missing in today’s world?
Stefano De Luigi : Empathy. We are living in the era of EGO-CENE
If you had to start all over again?
Stefano De Luigi : Gardener
Afterward, what would you like people to say about you?
Stefano De Luigi : He was a crazy and funny bastard
The one thing people must absolutely know about you?
Stefano De Luigi : There is nothing that any human being absolutely needs to know about his brothers and sisters on this earth. Truth is a subjective concept, for us humans.
A final word?
Stefano De Luigi : Onward and enjoy
