Richard Renaldi
Touching Strangers
Richard Renaldi’s work brings strangers together in unique portraits, showcasing human connections in his acclaimed “Touching Strangers” series.
“Touching Strangers” is a captivating photographic series where the photographer invites complete strangers to physically interact and pose together for a portrait. Using an 8×10 inch large format camera on the streets of various cities and towns across the United States, Renaldi selects his subjects and proposes that they pose together intimately, in postures usually reserved for close friends and loved ones.
In this process, Renaldi forges spontaneous and ephemeral relationships between strangers in front of the camera, often taking participants beyond their comfort zones. Although these interactions may last only as long as the camera shutter clicks, the resulting images are deeply emotive and thought-provoking. They invite us to reflect on the possibilities of genuine and positive human connection in an increasingly diverse society.Richard Renaldi’s work brings strangers together in unique portraits, showcasing human connections in his acclaimed Touching Strangers series.
Richard Renaldi (Chicago, USA.)
After graduating from New York University with a BFA in Photography, Renaldi worked as a researcher and editor at Magnum Photos and Impact Visuals.
During that time, he began the first of many long-term projects, a series of street portraits on Madison Avenue. They were included in Strangers: The First Triennial of Photography and Video at the International Center of Photography, New York (2003). Renaldi’s work has also been exhibited at the George Eastman Museum in New York and at the Museum of the City of New York. He is represented by Benrubi Gallery in New York and Robert Morat Gallery in Berlin.
Five monographs of his work have been published, including Richard Renaldi: Figure and Ground (Aperture, 2006); Fall River Boys (Charles Lane Press, 2009); Touching Strangers (Aperture, 2014); Manhattan Sunday (Aperture, 2016); I Want Your Love (Super Labo, 2018). He was the recipient of a fellowship in 2015 from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
In collaboration with
