Luigi Ghirri: Viaggi. Photographs 1970–1991

Curated by James Lingwood
Exhibition coordination at MASI Ludovica Introini

Just over thirty years after his untimely death, MASI Lugano is devoting a major show to the Italian photographer Luigi Ghirri (Scandiano, 1943 - Reggio Emilia, 1992). Ghirri was a pioneer whose far-reaching ideas on photography and its role in modern culture remain influential today.  The body of work he created in the 1970s and 1980s – a playful and poetic reflection on the medium of photography at a time when it was becoming commonplace in contemporary society – was unrivalled in Europe. 

The exhibition in MASI explores how important the idea and reality of travel was to Ghirri.  A carefully curated selection of around 140 colour photographs, mostly vintage prints from the 1970s and 1980s from the Estate of Luigi Ghirri and the collection of CSAC in Parma, brings together celebrated images alongside lesser known photographs.