I Recreate Famous Faces On My Fingers

I started the Ditology project in 2009, when I created my Facebook account. I wanted this to become a virtual space free from my relatives, colleagues and not-very-friends, so I created an avatar. In Italian someone could say I wanted to “hide myself behind my finger” (nascondermi dietro un dito): it’s a popular metaphor to indicate a not-very-effective hiding place. I choose the nickname Dito Von Tease, inspired to Dita Von Teese, the icon of bourlesque style and expert in disguises. I’m known as Dito, that’s Italian for “finger”.

In the “digital age”, our fingers are the “tools” we use to keep in touch with the world through touch-screens, mouse pads and keyboards. In a sense, we are all “hiding behind a finger” while surfing the internet and this mediation often makes us to feel free to express our ideas, opinions or sensations. Probably, even in the real life we hide ourselves behind an image of us: a mask we create to protect the uniqueness of our finger-print. This is true especially for celebrities, who live of their masks. Therefore, I disguise my fingers as famous characters taken from the news, historical events, arts, politics, and so on.

My work has been reviewed by radios, TVs and internet, published in worldwide newspapers, magazines and books, it has inspired advertising campaigns, attracted collaborations with celebrities and entered in some art galleries catalogues in London and Paris. Thumbtastic!

More info: ditovontease.com