Welcome to this edition of [book spotlight]. Today, we uncover the layers of 'The Hands of My Friends,' by Regina DeLuise (published by Saint Lucy Books). We'd love to read your comments below about these insights and ideas behind the artist's work.

When you first come across Regina DeLuise’s work, it feels like stepping into a beautifully intimate world. Her latest book, The Hands of My Friends, showcases her mastery of large-format photography and platinum/palladium printing, while capturing the people and places that have shaped her life. From the hills of Italy to the banks of the St. Lawrence River, Regina’s images evoke a sense of closeness, warmth, and timeless beauty. In this conversation, we dive deep into her creative process, the stories behind the images, and the journey that led her to release this stunning collection.

Regina’s ability to transform everyday moments into rich, evocative compositions is remarkable. Through this interview, we get a glimpse of her thoughts on portraiture, how she works with an 8x10 camera, and what draws her to the diverse cultural landscapes she captures. It’s not just about photography; it’s about relationships, experiences, and the ever-evolving nature of her art.

Inspiration and Beginnings: “The Hands of My Friends” represents a significant milestone as your first monograph. Can you share what inspired you to compile this collection, and how did the idea for the book evolve over time?

Yes, thank you Martin. This is a significant milestone for me. Over the years, there was more than one inquiry about when a book of my work would come to fruition. Honestly, the idea was overwhelming. I didn’t have a clear sense of where to begin, and more specifically, how to put a frame around the work, if the book wasn’t going to be project based. I credit Mark Alice Durant of Saint Lucy Books for persuading me that a book of my images should exist in the world. 

After seeing my exhibition at Rick Wester Fine Art in Chelsea, Fall of 2022,  Mark and I began a conversation about collaborating.

''For a long time I had been an admirer of Regina’s gorgeous, radiant and tender imagery.  I drove home to Baltimore thinking that I would like to help bring a book of her work into the world’ MD.  

I find Mark’s writing, art practice and work creating Saint Lucy Books inspiring.  It was a joy to work with him and be included in the family of Saint Lucy. It is his vision and experience that ushered this book into the world.

Creative Process: You work (exclusively) extensively with a large-format 8x10 camera and employ the Platinum/Palladium printing process. How do these technical choices influence your creative vision and the final aesthetic of your photographs?

I came to photography through a love of observation. Early on, drawing, eye to hand, had been my way into seeing. The sensual nature of drawing with line, tracing my experience, focused my attention and moved me towards eye to heart, the lens, and drawing with light. 

I was introduced to palladium printing by artist and mentor Jed Devine as an undergraduate student at the State University of NewYork at Purchase. Coming from the tradition of drawing, I found this way of printing immediatly satisfying; to choose and print with beautiful papers, hand coat an emulsion and work outside a traditional black and white darkroom was a revelation. The palladium material is ‘slow’, so I’m not enlarging the negative, but making a direct contact print. For this reason, I moved from a medium format camera to the 8 x 10 in short order.  Working with the view camera felt natural, it fits my temperament.  

Photographing in this way is meditative and demands exertion; it amplifies the mysterious nature of image making, how place, light, collaboration and patience reveal a moment worth knowing and preserving. Typically, I print with an ultraviolet light box, but when in Italy and more recently, in residence at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Amherst, Virginia, I printed in the sun, finding the correct exposure in relation to the hour of the day, changing seasons, and qualities of light. For me, it is incredibly satisfying (sometimes, deeply frustrating) to work in such a nuanced way.  The properties of the platinum/ palladium are unique and sound. The print is archival and as permanent as the paper it is made on.  The tonal range is long and subtle. The image becomes part of the paper rather than floating on top and it is beautiful to hold. A platinum palladium print is rich and very sensual to me.

Cultural Exploration: Your book spans multiple countries and cultures, from Italy and the USA to Morocco, South Africa, and beyond. How do these diverse locations inform your photographic storytelling, and what do you seek to capture in each cultural context?  

I included work made in Morocco as the book revolves very much around conversation with Felicia McCarren and our work together over many years and many places. As Mark remarked (and I love this idea and image), the essays and conversation between us acts as an embrace of the images. I did not include work I would call Photographs from the Field as this would be a very different book and conversation. There was so much work to consider, taking out this body of work was helpful in clarifying the meaning and structure of The Hands of My Friends. There are however a few images I could not leave out; few portraits and still life that needed to be in conversation with the others.)

The Essence of Portraiture: Portraiture seems to be a central theme in your work. Could you discuss your approach to photographing people, and what do you hope to convey about your subjects through your portraits?

Many of those pictured are of my beloveds, significant individuals in my life and work. There are a handful of people who I know not at all, but who have become part of my life through my work. The portrait does become the centerpiece of The Hands of My Friends and perhaps in the broad view of my oeuvre. 

The large format camera greatly impacts the making of a portrait. The time it takes creates an opportunity for the sitter to gradually drop their self-consciousness. It allows me the space to move towards sparks of recognition and, inquisitiveness, deepening a feeling of friendship or deep love. The sitter watches me dance about, managing this hulking camera, pick it up, move it here, there, and back again, all the while in conversation, or directing from under the dark cloth. 

I’ve been told by some that being observed in this way allows for a heightened curiosity on their side of the lens. Others want to come around and see what I’m seeing. As I instruct them to get close to the camera, cover their head and shoulders with the dark cloth and create darkness between themselves and the back standard, I urge them to look past the ground glass, not at it. I walk in front of the camera and move my body, sweep my hands near the lens, interrupting the light so they can orient themselves and decipher the field of view. They realize then, that the mise en scène is upside down. The sitter has extended their trust to me; a sympathetic connection has been found. The solitary curiosities of the artist become a communion. The outcome of this collaboration allows the sitter to project themselves and their essence before the camera in an authentic way. In the portraits I find most transcendent, this heightened authenticity is the power of the image. 

Felicia McCarren’s essay is essential to The Hands of MyFriends. As my friend, fellow artist and collaborator in many of the images in this book, Felicia has observed me, as I observe the world for four decades. In this excerpt, she speaks to our collaboration over the years and being on the other side of the lens in a most tender way:

“I am standing on a hill in Fiesole. I am standing on a hill in the Sahara. In Fiesole, my adult life extends before me, and I do not see it. On that same hill, on a different terrace, in a break from the studio, I shield my eyes from the future.  From the idea of the future, too bright.

I am standing on a hill in the Sahara. My adult life, my career, the childhood of my son, unroll behind me.  Near these dunes I learned what it means to not be alone in the world. 

The photographer travels with us, and immediately understands. Here she can make photographs. Members of our family, friends, come before the camera. She finds me on a dune, shielding my eyes from the sun. Forty years later, not in Italy but on the dune in Chigaga, shielding my eyes, but differently, to see my son over the dune. The photographer casts her shadow on the image.

This is my life itself that she has sketched here across these various limbs, walls, steps, loggia, dunes. These pictures are made of lives; we became the people she photographed, and the pictures take on another life.”

FM  

Connection to Italy: You’ve mentioned Italy as your creative home. How does your Italian heritage influence your photographic perspective, and are there specific aspects of Italian culture or landscapes that resonate deeply with you?

Finding the frame for The Hands of My Friends through the Italian pictures became an organic and natural way to begin. Yes, being in Italy, or far from home, has played a significant role in my life and work.  I can say the significance of location, in some instances, is how I find my process, rather than where I find myself. As I describe in the text,

“The need to roam toward the unknown, redefines travel as a mindset, as well as an experience and destination. I am at my most productive when I keep something of an unsteady ground underfoot. I never know what I'll find when I’m out in the world, and I’m drawn to that not knowing. The air feels different, communication is awkward, and a new quality of light, illuminating the unexpected is a wonder. Honing my visual acumen is a way to find balance, keep alert, agile and alive. Time in the world has been one way to create this experience for myself. Paradoxically, the blank space of the studio functions in a similar manner. 

But Italy is singular for me. My years as a graduate student in Florence, many visits with extended family, the year of my Guggenheim Fellowship, teaching in Cortona, and a residency at The Bogliasco Foundation in 2018, Italy has been an abiding thread that weaves through my life and through the images I selected for The Hands of My Friends. 

I would describe myself as greatly influenced by my family’s immigrant experience. My mother was born in Italy as were all my grandparents. I observed and absorbed many aspects of the culture as a child. I would pour over snapshots of my family before they emigrated, looking for clues to illuminate their early lives. At the same time, I was mesmerized by this place of great beauty. My father was a lover of music, Neapolitan art songs, opera, and Italian tenors brought a real joy to the everyday life in our home. Perhaps most poignant, was the emotional attachment the adults around me had for their homeland. We traveled to Italy when I was ten and I remember feeling more at home there than anywhere.  I am inquisitive by nature and feel these early experiences sparked a love of the culture that remains central in my life. 

Photography as a Medium: Your work is known for embodying the depth and richness of human perception. How do you think photography, especially through traditional processes like Platinum/Palladium printing, enhances our understanding of the human experience?

I believe taking in and experiencing a work of art allows us the opportunity to cultivate empathy. It is a way to find connection and deeper understanding of another’s interior life, their world and circumstance. The processes I employ speak to my instincts and curiosites in a visceral way, they reflect my desire to be authentic.

Future Projects and Reflections: What are your aspirations for future projects, and how do you envision your photography evolving in response to changing artistic trends and personal experiences?

The book is a new medium for me. Joining my images together has created something distinctive and has been a nuanced and intense exploration of this form. Editing is a fascinating part of a photographer's process, and the evolution of The Hands of My Friends was a distinctive iteration of this undertaking.  This is a period of change for me. This is my first project after retiring from my teaching position after 23 years. I’m not sure what will be next, but this form activates my mind in a new way. I see possibilities. I’m beginning to make work again and am not at all certain where I will land, though I can describe the feeling of this moment as open sky.

Making The Hands of My Friends has been an opportunity to reflect on what has been revealed over forty years of work. The launch of the book has provided the opportunity for this and other conversations, for which I am very grateful. 

This book comes to light by virtue of my youthful idea that loving what you love will lead you to your life. A life in art is an uncertain one, but within this youthful notion, was a kind of confidence that an expansive view of the world was what I desired. My instincts and my camera provided a path through the thicket and a clear way to be closer to what captivates me. As a curious and natural observer, I am able to make work that functions as a tether between myself and the world, a way (one way) to remain attentive and engaged. The Hands of My Friends reveals how the unknown becomes recognizable to me; how I experience and make sense of the world.

To discover more about this intriguing body of work and how you can acquire your own copy, you can find and purchase the book here.

Regina DeLuise

Regina DeLuise is a renowned photographer known for her work with large-format cameras and the intricate Platinum/Palladium printing process. With a career spanning over four decades, she has exhibited her work internationally, including prominent galleries in New York and Italy. Her unique ability to capture the delicate interplay between light, shadow, and human emotion has earned her critical acclaim. She is also a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and has been deeply influenced by her Italian heritage and extensive travels, particularly to Italy, where much of her work finds its roots. (Website, Instagram)

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