For Milan art teacher and Instagrammer Benedetto Demaio (@benedettodemaio), two themes that he holds very dear often characterize his work: photographs of his hands and the presence of a striking shade of turquoise blue.
As he explains, hands are precious symbols of crafting and making. "They interpret my daily life, express feelings and emotions and draw my thoughts in simple gestures," he says. "I entrust them to my senses, all through them I explore my reality, I experience new visual languages and free my creativity. I use my hands to tell my story. They speak about me and for me." The turquoise, however, has its roots in Benedetto's upbringing. "I live in Milan, but I was born in a village in southern Italy overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. The colors of the place where I grew up—the gradients of the rough sea, the shades of the sea bottom, the turquoise that characterizes my work—are an evocation of my origins, the feeling of belonging to a wonderful land, a place that formed me, my home. Inserting a touch of that tone in my work reassures me." For more from Benedetto's hand series and his studies in blue, follow @benedettodemaio.
Photo by @benedettodemaio