Faculty Spotlight 2015: Stephan Apicella-Hitchcock, Richard Kalina, Anibal Pella-Woo
Personally I like Rome very much. It's a sort of a moderate, tranquil jungle where one can hide well. –Marcello Rubini, the protagonist of Federico Fellini’s 1960 film La Dolce Vita
The suite of images presented in Faculty Spotlight 2015 is a small sampling from a larger body of work made in Rome over the past seven years while co-teaching the course Documentary Photography: Italy for the Department of Theatre and Visual Arts. I am engaged in the process of studying the world, then representing it in a straightforward, descriptive manner. Fidelity to what is framed is of paramount importance.
Although a fictional journalist writing for gossip magazines spoke the initial quotation above, a certain level of invisibility is advantageous for both gossip columnists and living photographers alike. Rome is equal parts old cobblestones and theatre of the absurd—one needs to walk discreetly, not trip, and the daily dramas that typify Roman life unfold before you at every turn.
Stephan Apicella-Hitchcock, 2015