An exhibition in Reggio Emilia reflects on nature starting with the photographs of Luigi Ghirri

The Palazzo dei Musei in Reggio Emilia is hosting the exhibition A Foot in Eden until February 25, 2024. Luigi Ghirri and Other Looks. Gardens in Europe and The Architecture of Trees, curated by Ilaria Campioli. Starting with the work of Luigi Ghirri (Scandiano, 1943 - Reggio Emilia, 1992), among the great masters of Italian photography, the exhibition presents abroad reflection on nature through different photographic experiments.

The first section devoted to the work of Luigi Ghirri presents fifty-nine images taken mainly in parks and gardens between 1984 and 1988, places where, according to the famous photographer, it is possible to relive and experience a feeling of belonging with nature. From the very beginning, Ghirri’s photographic research is characterized by a strong interest in the natural element of which he does not fail to capture and highlight its many contradictions. From Colazione sull’erba, a series made between 1972 and 1974, in which Ghirri operates a powerful reflection on the transformation of nature into a purely decorative element, through Un piede nell’Eden, which includes works made between 1984 and 1988 in various parks and green areas inItaly and Europe, the anthropization of the natural element and the gradual disappearance of green areas on the outskirts of cities guide him in his search for a new image capable of restoring the complexity of a disappearing landscape. All the works in the exhibition are vintage prints except for the six related to Breakfast on the Grass and the seven images belonging to the research on Versailles.

In the second section is instead remounted a selection of eighty-one photographs from Gardens in Europe, a group exhibition held in 1988 under the curatorship of Luigi Ghirri and Giulio Bizzarri, in which the results of research conducted by thirteen international artists are presented (Andrea Abati, Olivo Barbieri, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Joan Fontcuberta, Mimmo Jodice, Gianni Leone, Francesco Radino, Olivier Richon, George Tatge, Ernesto Tuliozi, Fulvio Ventura, Verena Von Gagern, and Cuchi White) in green areas in Italy and abroad. abroad. The goal, as Ghirri himself declared, lies not in the search for stylistic unity but, above all, for “feelings” in order to place again at the center the sense of belonging towards those places, recognizing their importance and centrality for the life of cities and communities.

In the third part, L’Architettura degli Alberi (The Architecture of Trees ) by Cesare Leonardi and Franca Stagi, a monumental work published in 1982 for the study and knowledge of the structure of trees, recounts the great effort put forth by the two architects for the recognition of the characteristics peculiar to each essence and for the proper inclusion of trees in the designs of gardens and natural areas. The volume, produced on the occasion of the exhibition held in Reggio Emilia in 1982, is still considered a fundamental tool for green design and presents the extraordinary drawings of more than 212 tree species at a scale of 1:100. The photograph is a substantial piece of the work that led Leonardi and Stagi to the creation of the 370 1:100 scale ink drawings on acetate that make up The Architecture of Trees.

The body of research proposed in the exhibition testifies to a renewed interest that has been developing since the late 1970s in green areas, where the garden reappears in its ideological and ecological but also mnemonic, historical and cultural depth, as an expression of a new form of sensitivity to nature and the past, now definable as “Green Heritage.”

The exhibition is promoted by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia (Musei Civici, Panizzi Library) in collaboration with Archivio Eredi Luigi Ghirri and Fondazione Archivio Leonardi. The initiative sees Crédit Agricole Italia as Cultural Partner and Art Bonus contribution from Iren.

The exhibition also sees the valuable collaboration of Mariella Stagi Scarpa, Paolo Stagi, Stefano Stagi and the Luigi Poletti Civic Art Library of Modena.

More info at https://www.musei.re.it/

Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Closed Mondays. From June 11 the exhibition will observe summer hours.

Image: Caserta, 1987 @Eredi Luigi Ghirri

An exhibition in Reggio Emilia reflects on nature starting with the photographs of Luigi Ghirri

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