synopsis
In 1978, Luigi Ghirri self-published his first book, an avant-garde manifesto for the medium of photography and a landmark in his remarkable oeuvre. Kodachrome has long been out of print, and on the 20th anniversary of Ghirri’s death, MACK is proud to publish the second edition.
Both an amateur photographer and a photojournalist, Ghirri presents his surroundings in tight images, making photographs of photographs and recording the Italian landscape through his advertisements, postcards, potted plants, walls, windows and people. His work is impassive, reflecting a dry wit, and is a continuous engagement with the subject of reality and landscape as a snapshot of our interaction with the world.
This new edition of Kodachrome is published as a facsimile of the original, adopting the original design, text layout and image sequence, but using new image files scanned from Ghirri’s original film to take advantage of modern technology and printing methods. A small booklet is included with an essay by Francesco Zanot, which offers a contemporary perspective on the historical impact of Kodachrome, as well as French and German translations of the book’s original texts (which have been published in English and Italian).
technical information
self published
1978
dimensions : 26 x 20 cm
1978
dimensions : 26 x 20 cm
about Luigi Ghirri
A surveyor by training, Luigi Ghirri began taking photographs during the weekends in the early 1970s, walking the streets, squares and suburbs of Modena, building projects and themes. He casts an attentive and affectionate eye on the signs of the outside world, observing, without openly commenting on them, the changes made by man to the landscape and habitat of his home province, Emilia-Romagna, a barometer of a local vernacular exposed to the advent of new forms of habitat, leisure and advertising.
“I am interested in ephemeral architecture, in the world of the province, in objects considered to be in bad taste, kitsch, but which, for me, have never been, in objects loaded with desires, dreams, collective memories […] windows, mirrors, stars, palm trees, atlases, globes, books, museums and human beings seen through the image. »
By the end of this decade, Luigi Ghirri had accumulated thousands of views and developed a unique style and a complex conceptual framework for presenting his work. This first decade culminated in two highlights: the publication in 1978 of Kodachrome, a truly exceptional photographic work, and a major exhibition, “Vera Fotografia”, held in 1979 at the exhibition centre of the University of Parma, curated by Arturo Carlo Quintavalle and Massimo Mussini and which, through fourteen projects and themes, retraces Luigi Ghirri’s own way of thinking and acting.
more information
book in my collection
publisher : Mack
2012
2012