Valeria Dellisanti

In the Rooms

Feb 20, 2020

Valeria is an Italian photographer who enjoys portraiture and photographing daily moments in an honest and uncomplicated way. In her series 'In the Rooms', Valeria shows a collection of intimate portraits where the sitters are located in their own rooms, giving us access to their private lives and depicting some of their feelings. A piece of work that challenges our own private lives and makes us think about what we show and what we hide to the others.

First of all thank you very much for your contribution to our project. Can you please introduce yourself for us?

Hello, I'm Valeria Dellisanti, 24 years old and film photographer from Italy. I studied art and cinema.

How did you start in photography?

Quite quickly I understood I had a real love for photography. I started photographing every day when I was 18. At the beginning I experimented with many means: mobile phone, Polaroid, digital camera. Today I've understood that the medium that helps me better represent my aesthetics is analog photography.

What inspires your work?

I try to capture spontaneous images that speak of real life, like my project "In the Rooms". Lately I have been doing many portraits, I love to capture people's eyes. My approach to photography is instinctive and spontaneous so I create simple and intimate images. Usually I shoot with a Canon AE1 on Kodak film and I hardly ever edit the photos.

What is 'In the Rooms' about?

This project started in 2017. Our rooms are where we're most intimate. They're what we create for ourselves to live in, they show who we are, they are a piece of us.

This intersection between poetry and documentation sheds light on the problematic nature of apparently ordinary things. By immersing me and the sitter in a private space, which is aesthetically charged and culturally specific, I allowed myself to experiment with my personality and confront myself with others.

How did you come with the idea to make this project?

Like every art student and artist I love the body, I try to represent a less standardized beauty starting with myself by making self-portraits.

Who are your favourite photographers / artists?

I have many favourite photographers, but lately I'm in love with Lina Scheynius' work.

What is your favourite photo book?

My favourite photography book is "The Ballad of sexual dependency" by Nan Goldin.