Luigi Ghirri (b. Scandiano, Reggio Emilia, 1943 – d. Roncocesi, Reggio Emilia, 1992) worked as a photographer for over twenty years, from 1970 to 1992. One of the most important and influential figures in contemporary photography, he first started working in the ambit of conceptual art, and his research soon attracted international attention. In 1975 Time-Life included him among the “discoveries” of its Photography Year, and he showed at the Art as Photography – Photography as Art exhibition at Kassel. In 1982 he was presented at the Photokina in Cologne as one of the most significant artists in the history of 20th-century photography. His works are held in various institutions around the world, including the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Musée-Château (Annecy), Musée de la Photographie Réattu (Arles), Polaroid Collection (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Musée Nicéphore Niépce (Chalon-sur-Saône), Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea (Cinisello Balsamo, Milan), Archivio dello Spazio – Amministrazione Provinciale (Milan), Galleria Civica (Modena), Canadian Centre for Architecture – Centre Canadien d’Architecture (Montréal), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Cabinets des estampes – Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Fond National d’Art Contemporain (Paris), Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione (Parma), Biblioteca Panizzi – Fototeca (Reggio Emilia), Palazzo Braschi – Archivio Fotografico Comunale (Rome), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Turin), Galleria d’Arte Moderna (Turin), Fotomuseum (Winterthur). In 2010 a large selection of his works was presented in the group exhibition La carte d’après nature, curated by Thomas Demand, at the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco. In 2011 Bice Curiger has selected him for the international section of the 54. Biennale di Venezia.