Stefano
Delìa

Identity

I am a photographer and visual artist based in Rome with over twenty years of experience. I work across different languages (set photography, portraiture, luxury, haute cuisine, editorial, conceptual fine art research) and in every context I bring the same gaze: matter, light, the relationship between body and environment. The subject changes, the way I observe it does not.

Training and origins

I graduated with honours in Communication Sciences at the University of Rome Tor Vergata in 2008. In 2009 I was selected for a Magnum Photos workshop with Chris Steele-Perkins (which also included Bruce Gilden, Carl De Keyzer and Antoine d’Agata), with the final works exhibited at MACBA in Barcelona. That same year I joined Fabio Lovino’s studio as his first assistant, a role I held until 2012: an experience that shaped my approach to portraiture, set dynamics and large-scale productions.

Approach

I do not wait for a subject to be ready to be photographed. I enter the project, understand how the client thinks and what they want to communicate, and from there I build a visual reading that is not the execution of a brief but the interpretation of something real. From cinema I learned to use light as emotion. From luxury, the discipline of form and detail. From auteur cuisine, the value of gesture and raw material. These worlds feed each other and I try to transmit that in the images.

Professional experience

I have collaborated with international brands and institutions (Dom Pérignon, Ruinart, Krug, Burberry, Alcantara, MAXXI) and with some of the most significant audiovisual productions globally, including HBO and Netflix. I have photographed chefs and leading figures of Italian gastronomy such as Luciano Monosilio, Tommaso Tonioni and Domenico Marotta, and produced content for Italia Squisita, Cook Inc. and Food & Wine Italia. As a set photographer I have worked on productions including The White Lotus (HBO), The Swarm (ZDF/RAI Fiction) and numerous Italian films distributed by 01 Distribution. I have taught creative thinking development at Scuola Tessieri, an institute of advanced culinary training. My work has been published in The Guardian, Vanity Fair, GQ, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, D di Repubblica and many other international outlets.

Artistic research

Alongside commissioned work I develop long-term artistic projects with a strong conceptual component, exhibited in institutional contexts and international festivals. I am represented by Saccage (Rome/Paris), Herd Represent (London) and Image in Progress (Rome) for my limited and numbered fine art editions.

Awards

In 2009 my work was exhibited at MACBA in Barcelona as part of the Traffic ’09 festival and at the Rome Photography Festival. In 2022 I received an Honourable Mention at the Fine Art Photography Awards in the Conceptual category.