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THE CALL

GFI | Premio Luigi Ghirri (Young Italian Photography | Luigi Ghirri Award) is a free-of-charge call for artists under the age of 35, promoting the discovery and showcase of emerging photography talents in Italy. An international commission selects the works that, receiving a financial reward, are produced and shown in a collective exhibition in the European Photography program in Reggio Emilia.

Artists are invited to submit a project fitting the main theme and including a series of images with a description and a setup proposal. The selection jury reserves its right to prefer recent or unpublished projects.

The exhibition layout will be defined together by artists and curators. To be considered for the contest, candidates must be Italian - even if living abroad - or foreigners resident in Italy.

Each artist or collective can only submit one project. Artists who have already been selected in one of the last three editions of the call (ed. 2019, 2021, 2022) cannot apply.

For further information on the call , please visit our organization’s website: https://gfi.comune.re.it/en

THE THEME: “BELONGING”

As Aristoteles famously stated, the sense of belonging is a fundamental need for human beings as “social animals”. This is a natural instinct; if this was not the case, there would be no connection at all.

Nevertheless, several phenomena of the last generation (from the digital revolution to telecommunications, migration and scientific progress) are challenging the relationship and social structures we were used to. Now more than ever, tension arises among different perceptions of what belonging is: on one side the inclusion in a community whose identity is well defined, which can sometimes react with oppression or resistance, on the other side there can be a liberal tension towards new forms of community based on shared values, such as micro-communities, that are the core of “achievable utopias”, or the creation of cultural areas on a much larger scale, Europe being one, possibly reaching new global concepts like Martha Nussbaum’s theory about species membership, or like the holistic view on nature, without forgetting those relationships that are more intimate in nature.

Photography and visual culture are contributing in a meaningful way to shape our ideas of identity and belonging, by defining who is in, and who is out. Indian author Amitav Ghosh has been inviting us to a change of paradigm for years now, placing in the center of his storytelling what is usually left out, weaving stories that start from nature’s point of view – spices, plants, animals, volcanoes – or people who know nature, like shamans, to remind us that a new balance can only be achieved through counter-storytelling. Is visual culture in the position of making us imagine a new concept of identity? Can it show what happens in the subtle space between belonging and being allowed in, or in the large and unstable space that runs between social determinism and individual freedom? Our contemporary life is characterized by a mix of different kinds of images – shot through traditional devices, generated by individuals or machines and then possibly shared on social network. Can this combination generate a change of vision, disrupting official narratives, opening up a perspective into new ways of understanding how we belong to a larger and more complex system?

What winners receive

Fee of 1500 euros to the 7 selected finalists covering the expenses for:

• production and transport of the works;
• artists’ travel and stay in Reggio Emilia during the show’s preparation and inauguration;
• potential insurance covering the transport of works.

Luigi Ghirri Award, worth 4,000 euros awarded to one of the finalists by an international jury. The jury will take place during the opening days of Fotografia Europea (April 28 - 30, 2023). The winner will also have the opportunity to exhibit a larger and more complete version of the project in a solo exhibition scheduled in Triennale Milano for winter 2024.

Nuove traiettorie. GFI a Stoccolma Artist residency in Stockholm consisting of a study and research period during which the selected artist will produce an art project to be shown in an exhibition curated by the Italian Culture Institute in Stockholm. The Luigi Ghirri Award’s jury will select the winner in consultation with the director of the IIC Stockholm.

About Giovane Fotografia Italiana

Giovane Fotografia Italiana (Young Italian Photography) is a project born in 2012 and promoted by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia.

Since 2018, Giovane Fotografia Italiana provides for the awarding of a prize, which, starting from the 2022 and in collaboration with Luigi Ghirri's heirs, takes the name of Premio Luigi Ghirri. Thus enhancing the recognition of emerging talents of contemporary photography in Italy.

The project, curated by Ilaria Campioli and Daniele De Luigi, is in collaboration with GAI - Association for the Circuit of Young Italian Artists and with Fotografia Europea (European Photography), in partnership with Festival Panoràmic in Granollers - Barcelona, Fotofestiwal Łódź in Poland, Italian Cultural Istitute of Stockholm, Photoworks Festival in Brighton, Triennale Milano.

Through the network of partners, GFI aims at creating further opportunities of visibility for artists. The artists who apply for the call accept to exhibit their works in initiatives promoted in collaboration with project’s partners and sponsors and at their venues (cultural institutions, companies, banks, etc.). The project is made possible thanks to the support of C.P Company and Reire srl.

How to Enter

• Create your personal Picter account.
• On Picter, register for the “Open call GFI | Premio Luigi Ghirri 2023” contest and start entering your data and informations.
• Upload all the required material, including:
• selection of images (minimum 5 - maximum 15, 1500 px on the long edge);
• project description, in Italian and English, including any links to videos;
• CV with up to 2000 characters;
• biography with up to 1500 characters;
• consent forms (in Italian or English) undersigned by the portrayed subjects if recognizable;
• sketchwork and/or description of a set-up proposal, assumed on a wall not exceeding 9 metres in length

Judging Criteria

GFI supports the work of artists who use the medium of photography as a reflection on its role in today's visual culture and on contemporary issues. Projects accepted are photographic series or ones in which, while sitting next to other medias, photography maintains a prominent role. The jury will assess the overall quality of the works, considering the role of images in their relation to the concept of the project , as well as the presentation of a proposal for an exhibition display.