Luigi Ghirri
1943–1992 · Italy
Seeing the images that already inhabit the world.
The story
Luigi Ghirri began working in 1970s Italy, exploring relationships between real places and representations. Maps, posters, shop windows and ordinary landscapes are central to his colour photography. He also took part in publishing and collective projects that renewed ways of reading the Italian landscape. Photography becomes a quiet investigation into how we recognise, categorise and imagine our surroundings.
Understanding the work
Find images within the image: a poster, sign or postcard. Soft colours and simple framing create uncertainty between a thing and its representation, without necessarily resolving that visual ambiguity.
Key works and series
Kodachrome; Atlante; Il profilo delle nuvole; projects on the Italian landscape.
Sources & further exploration
Works in collections.
10 recordsPhotographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.
