ABOUT ME

I was born in Bolzano, Italy, a small city in the Italian Alps and immigrated to Brooklyn, New York when I was eight years old.  My immigrant experience of being an outsider in a new culture led me to observing people’s behavior, which eventually led me to study anthropology. In college I became interested in Visual Anthropology and graduated with a double major in Anthropology and Photography.

I had the good luck to study with W. Eugene Smith who had a huge impact on my photography. He taught me to be commitment to photographing the human condition.  He approached his stories like an anthropologist doing fieldwork.  He would spend months on a story, living with his subjects, gaining a close and intimate familiarity with them and their environment.  He taught me that we, as photographers, needed to be up close to understand the truth of people’s lives that we needed to hang out, build relationships, and immerse ourselves in their day-to-day world.  Smith felt that an intimate understanding of the people we photographed fostered respect and compassion for them.  Like all good teachers he helped me find my purpose and vision.   

The central focus of my photographic work is individuals who are outside the mainstream of the larger society.  Some of the subjects of my work have been punks, skinheads, inner city youth, amateur boxing clubs, South Bronx gang members and immigrants.  I explore how individuals who, either by choice or because they are seen as the “Other,” live outside the dominant culture. My goal is to capture, through photographs and interviews, how individuals shape their identity, fend off alienation, and give voice to their own existence.