Marco Delogu has always embarked on projects focused on groups of people who have experiences or idioms in common, and in doing so has always drawn inspiration from his own life.

The idea of photographing Vatican Cardinals for example began with Delogu’s uncle who was an Archbishop. Photographed in their private chapels, their apartments, austere or regal, in the magnificent Vatican buildings or in hospital beds, these portraits recall the iconography of classical painting while being in the language of contemporary portraiture.

Captivity, Delogu’s portraits of criminals in Rome’s Rebibbia Prison stem from his fear of imprisonment, which was a constant concern for the people of his generation and their extreme expressions of the political struggles of the 70’s. After twenty years, many of Delogu’s former schoolmates are still in prison.

Cardinals and Criminals are complete opposites. Each represent societal extremes: Good and Evil. However, through Delogu’s lens, these opposites manafest a collision of ethos and pathos. Delogu sees each person as inhabitants within a web of imposed and self-imposed rules and regulations that are indecipherable to those who do not know their experience. Beyond the rules are men and women just trying to survive.

Cardinals and Criminals is available in a special collectors portfolio. Numbered 1-10, the portfolio contains all twenty images from the exhibition. Single images are also available.