Stephan Brigidi

From my beginnings in the early 1970s, my most common practice has been to work in various series, organizing the work accordingly. Whether I have made photographs, or worked in other media, my curiosities have been consistent: to examine humanity with my own place and role within humanity. As a photographer, my fascinations and curiosities have been in working with people. This has been the case for nearly fifty years of image making.
A cultural understanding and perspective in meeting the people, has always been my intent wherever my travels have taken me. This certainly has begun with investigations involving my own background and heritage. Consequently, this has brought me to spend vast amounts of time in Italy toward a greater understanding of my origins. Though American born, I have sought to attain a clearer view of my family’s departure from Italy in the early 20th century and their motivations for leaving Italy. As I searched for greater knowledge of my family’s roots, it brought me to reclaim my birthright. Many years of living and working in Italy has resulted in the production a large body of B/W and color work, comprising a range of specific portfolios from various regions within the country.
I would however, be quite short sighted as a social observer and participant, if I were to limit myself to my own western Caucasian background and Italian ethnicity. Through my travels I have come to observe the greater diversity of people and my concerns are in addressing our linkages in humanity, our commonalities. In recent times, I have become more acutely aware of my background of white privilege and seek to reconcile the effects of this socialization. It brings me to interact with others who have had fewer opportunities and entitlements. This is a process of unlearning- a gradual casting off of privilege. My project, Simply Human, is about this. In working collaboratively with the people that I am photographing, I seek their participation and contribution. Our voices become joined by integrating graphics: my photographs with their written words of poetry or prose. I look to explore our common bonds, and express my strong confidence in the importance of this. It is my belief that the projects undertaken over the last several decades well substantiate these assertions about our universal linkage, regardless of backgrounds and origins. The Simply Human project directly reinforces this idea.
While I delight in both traditional and digital printmaking with the ongoing practice of exhibitions, my intent is more in the making of books. Publishing my pictures and personal writings are far more reaching to wider audiences, and this format lends itself better in the ongoing collaborations. Working with others on these projects has the outcomes of a greater learning experience, and the results are far more personally significant.
Photography is the great universal language. What better means to celebrate our common humanity than to speak with the voice of photography.”
-Stephan Brigidi
To learn more about Stephan Brigidi’s work and background, visit his website here.

Selections

Rome, 1970s, © Stephan Brigidi

Carnevale di Venezia, 1995, © Stephan Brigidi