marco delogu

Testatera

Close-ups of twenty-one faces bearing the signs of time, squeezed into the square format; twenty-one stark, direct portraits without condescension: Marco Delogu has chosen this method to recount a story of emigration, almost by metonymical suggestion.
His narration is developed from one face to the next and the choice of a serial arrangement underscores the similarities and differences.
The photographer’s linguistic decision operates by subtraction, on the sparest, most frontal level. Indeed, Delogu relinquishes every possible interpretation and lets the eyes, signs, smiles and generous presentation of the faces become the protagonists of his story.
A photographic portrait is by definition a picture of a person at a specific moment. Here we are presented with 21 portraits in which “the instant” is shared and contemporary, but the juxtaposition of the faces – and the experiences that each individual one recounts with the simplicity of a friendly gesture – composes an overall picture with the flavour and charm of a piece of history.
Giovanna Calvenzi

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