P A B L O . D E L A N O

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication Mosaic in December, 1997.

Pablo Delano

Communicating through his lens

While teaching in an after-school arts program in a drug-plagued neighborhood of New York during the early 1980s, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts Pablo Delano looked out a window onto the street and saw a woman who had overdosed on heroin. Two men were at her side, urging her to walk in an attempt to revive her. As he watched the scene, a young girl whom he had taught ran into his field of vision, spotted Delano, stopped just in front of the trio, and waved to him, beaming. The compelling image, which Delano says is still indelibly imprinted in his mind, is in part what motivated him to become a documentary photographer.

"That image - the picture not taken - is one of the pictures that motivates much of my work," Delano says of the life-affirming image that typifies his work. It also suggests the power of the visual medium. "Photography is a form of expression. It's also a form of communication," he asserts. Delano spent 17 years communicating through his lens by chronicling everyday life in New York City, where he produced two major public art projects before joining Trinity's faculty last year. His arrival at the College marks the inauguration of a new academic concentration in photography and a new, state-of-the-art darkroom in Hallden Hall, the construction of which he supervised.

Painting roots
Born in Puerto Rico and trained as a painter (he holds a master of fine arts degree from Yale University's School of Art), Delano discovered the power of photography while teaching in the grant-funded arts program through the Third Street Music School Settlement in New York City. While there, he documented on film the artwork and lives of his students. "With this early photography I found that I was able to satisfy my need for a formal engagement with picture-making - namely my fascination with graphic elements like light, color, shape and form - while dealing with a subject that I cared about deeply," he explains.

Just as Delano has incorporated his classical training as a painter into his own work, students in Delano's "Photography I" course learn more than the sheer mechanics of how to use a 35-millimeter camera, develop film, print contacts, and make enlargements. "I talk with my students about the history of photography," he notes. "History is crucial. Any artist who is serious has to be able to place himself in the context of what's been done."

In discussing the history of photography, students learn about Henri Cartier-Bresson, a 20th-century photographer credited with being the father of contemporary photojournalism, and about 19th-century photographer Romualdo Garcia of Mexico, who produced "exquisite portraits," according to Delano. Students also study the work of American documentary photographer Jack Delano, the professor's late father, who along with Walker Evans captured the Depression's devastating effects on America for the Farm Security Administration. The exploration of the history of photography serves as a vehicle for a discussion of the most important aspect of the medium - the expressive side of photography. "Seeing how other photographers have expressed themselves helps students develop their own vision," Delano says.

Using originality and perspective
Karen A. Salerno '98, an Individualized Degree Program (IDP) student and studio arts major, says of her professor, "There's a certain tendency among artists not to like to share their secrets. Professor Delano not only openly shares his secrets, but teaches us about art. He encourages us to use perspective and point of view in our photographs. He wants to see originality."

Associate Professor of Fine Arts and Director of Studio Arts Robert J. Kirschbaum praises his colleague's professional stature, pointing to Delano's two New York public art projects - a series of large-scale photomurals permanently installed in a new school, and 754 portraits of Americans for the American Flag of Faces project on exhibit at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum since 1990. He is also quick to point out how Delano's teaching approach capitalizes on Trinity's location. "In his seminar in documentary photography, taught with guest lecturer Assistant Professor of Modern Languages and Literature Gustavo A. Remedi, Pablo made deft use of Trinity's location and led his students in producing a remarkable body of work. He is a demanding teacher, who also knows how to establish an atmosphere in his studios which is serious, but not solemn."

Sarah L. Bettencourt '98, an English major and visual studies minor, participated in Delano's seminar in documentary photography, where she and her classmates photographed the fence that marks the boundaries of Trinity's campus, capturing it both artistically and in sociological terms. Professor Remedi later used the images in a lecture he delivered at Tulane University entitled "Rap Around the Fence: Cracks in the Multicultural Paradigm." Says Bettencourt, "Professor Delano expects a lot from his students and he's very encouraging. I think he's great!"

Teaching photography in a liberal arts setting is for Delano particularly appropriate. "I feel lucky that I've found a way to work with the language of art and deal with all the normal concerns that artists always ruminate over - space, the arrangement of forms, and geometry. But photography is a very open discipline," he says. "In my classes, I'm not only teaching about photography as a medium. I'm also teaching about history, politics, and sociological issues like race and class."

-- Suzanne Zack

Read Hartford Courant reporter Helen Ubina's article on Professor Delano, which appeared in the Courant's Northeast magazine.