A foot in Eden. Luigi Ghirri and other looks

The event takes place in the Museums Palace, via Spallanzani, 1.

From the beginning, Luigi Ghirri's photographic research is characterized by a strong interest in the natural element of which he does not fail to highlight the numerous contradictions. From Breakfast on the grass, a series created between 1972 and 1974, in which Ghirri reflected on the transformation of nature into a pure decorative element, through A foot in Eden, which includes works created between 1984 and 1988 in several parks and green areas of Italy and Europe, the anthropization of the natural element and the progressive disappearance of the natural areas on the outskirts of the town led him to search for a new image capable of restoring the complexity of a landscape in the process of disappearance.

In 1988, together with Giulio Bizzarri, Ghirri invited thirteen artists (Andrea Abati, Olivo Barbieri, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Joan Fontcuberta, Mimmo Jodice, Gianni Leone, Francesco Radino, Olivier Richon, George Tatge, Ernesto Tuliozi, Fulvio Ventura, Varena Von Gagern and Cuchi White) to exhibit the results of research done on several green areas in the exhibition Gardens in Europe. The goal - as Ghirri himself declares in the introductory text of the small catalogue of the exhibition - did not lie in the search for a stylistic unity but, above all, for "feelings" to put the sense of belonging towards those places back at the centre, thus recognizing its importance and centrality for the life of cities and communities.