The review, curated by Elio Grazioli, conceived by MIA Photo Fair in collaboration with the Lombardy Regional Council, will retrace that period which, from the mid-sixties to the entire following decade, saw photography move from the traditional sphere, i.e. that of a documentary or reportage type, to that parallel or internal to the artistic avant-gardes, often defined as 'experimental' or 'aesthetic', of the "artists who use photography" as a contemporary art language, developing investigations on light, perception, abstraction and supporting the research of movements such as Body Art and conceptual art.
The exhibition itinerary will present 80 works of some of the protagonists of that season, from Ugo Mulas to Gabriele Basilico, from Paola Mattioli to Luigi Erba, from Nino Migliori to Mario Giacomelli, from Gianfranco Chiavacci to Franco Vaccari, from Mimmo Jodice to Ketty La Rocca, from Mario Cresci to Luigi Ghirri, to still others, who will document how the changes of language have gone hand in hand with those of the representation of the broader and more decisive themes of reality, such as the landscape, both natural and urban, the body and gender, identity and society.
The exhibition will have a deepening at The Mall in Milan, during MIA Photo Fair (19 – 22 March 2020), the Italian fair dedicated to art photography, where eight galleries will offer monographic stands with some of the masters who participated in that season, such as Luigi Erba, Aldo Tagliaferro, Lamberto Pignotti, Gianfranco Chiavacci, Paolo Gioli, Luigi Maria Patella, Franco Fontana Michael Zaza.
Cover image: Mario Giacomelli, From the series "Stories of the land, 1956-1980", 1978?. Gelatin-silver print, 29.2 x 39.4 cm. Courtesy Fabio Castelli Collection
