One of many artists to use their talents to add to the Black Lives Matter discourse is New York-based photographer Peter DeVito, whose signature style of portraiture features physical words on models’ faces as a storytelling mechanism.
DeVito is now capturing photos as part of a new series called “Black Voices Matter,” and he’s doing it all over FaceTime.
Because in-person photo shoots are not an option in light of coronavirus-related restrictions on gatherings and travel, DeVito did some experimenting with friends and found that he could effectively photograph people over a video call.
“You can’t control a lot of factors over FaceTime, so at first it felt very limiting, but I have realized that being limited forces you to get more creative,” DeVito said, adding that he used photo-editing software instead of actual stickers to create the phrases that appear on the models’ faces for this photo shoot.
The tiny letters that DeVito adds to the models’ photographed faces are not purely for aesthetic purposes; they are smaller phrases from personal journal entries written by each model about their stories and experiences as Black Americans.
