We were lucky to catch up with Douglas D’Elia recently and have shared our conversation below.

Doug, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

Well, I really feel my interest and success in the arts is a combination of my DNA and a gift from the Creator. My father was a photographer in WWII and there were always cameras around the house and under the Christmas tree. He also had the gift of design that was manifested in the home and his garden.

My mother (Lillian Harel) was a singer of Broadway songs, a fashionista who came from a long line of theater and fashion people in Paris. She descends from Felix Harel who directed Hugo, Dumas and Balzac at the Port St. Martin Theatre in Paris.

All this being said, like many artists before me (and my peers) I stand in wonder, awe, and gratitude that I’ve been chosen as an instrument of the Creator to make the world one ray the more and one shade the less.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Well, I’m involved in a multitude of projects, as Gerard Nerval once said, “I don’t have any hobbies, but I have many obsessions.” As a young adult I followed in my father’s footsteps carrying a camera every wear I traveled. My love of fashion developed at an early age. I remember going to elementary school in red pants, that I was quite proud of, only to have the teacher make fun of me in front of the class. I did all my own back-to-school shopping, because I wouldn’t wear the things mother bought.

I’ve had success as a writer and my poetry appears in over fifty journals and anthologies including The Evergreen Review (Kerouac and Ginsberg, etc). My Haiku has been translated into Mandarin and published in China. I have had seven plays produced in six states and once owned the Cocoa Village Playhouse in Florida.

As a photographer I’ve had several showings including my Woodstock and Beyond series (60s-80s) and most recently I have been selling vintage clothing as my contribution to sustainable living. I’ve also begun turning my photography into multimedia projects. Still, “I have miles to go before I sleep.”

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

It took me sometime to allow myself to call myself an artist. A beret and fashionable attire has always been a staple of my life and I was constantly being asked if I was a professor or an artist to which I would answer; “sort of,” or “sometimes” or “you could say that,” always a minimizing response. One day outside a soup kitchen a man came out with a bag of groceries, stopped and asked are you an artist? And for the first time, I said, “Yes, yes I am,” and it felt good. This encounter, somehow changed the way I viewed myself and empowered and allowed me to “come out,” if you will.

It was a lesson I will always remember. “I don’t need permission to be myself nor do you.”

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The story of my “coming out” was the first step in undoing an old thought process which was “that being an artist was not a valuable or worthy pursuit. How often do we hear our parents say, “Why don’t you become a doctor or lawyer.” But there is nothing that inspires people like art. Just take a walk through the Louvre or the Met and you will most likely experience the Stendhal Effect, an overwhelming feeling that brings you to tears. When I was a young man studying philosophy and religion at the University of Central Florida, I read the Gospel of Thomas and peticularly taken by the writers proclamation: “If you bring forth that which is in you, it will save you. If you don’t bring forth that which in you, it will kill you.”

Contact Info:

• Website: Dougdelia.com
• Instagram: Dougvandelia
• Facebook: Doug D’Elia
• Linkedin: Doug D’Elia
• Other: My best selling novellas “The Girl in my Dream” and “Mother was Born at Woodstock” are available on Amazon Books as are a book of poetry (Forever to an underwood typewriter), and another of poetography (combining photography with poetry).

Image Credits
Book art by Amanda Lanzone.