A humble master of Italian photography, Guido Guidi was born in Cesena, Italy, in 1941. He studied in Venice at the University Institute of Architecture (now IUAV), following courses headed by Bruno Zevi, Carlo Scarpa and Mario De Luigi, before entering the Advanced Course in Industrial Design with Italo Zannier and Luigi Veronesi.
Guidi is known as a pioneer in landscape photography. His practice is highly influenced by art history, neorealist Italian film, and conceptual art. For most of his life, Guidi has lived in Ronta, a small town outside Cesena, in North-East Italy. He uses photography as an “experience for understanding”. “All photographs are monuments. If you photograph this cup on the table, for example, it gives it importance. And over time, photographs become more and more like monuments.”
His landscape photographs haven’t touched the beauty of the Italian coast or its countryside, unlike Claude Nori’s photographs. Guidi is interested in the “peripheral, shabby, neglected buildings”, benches, highways, some elements fading and reveling the contemporary.
Guido Guidi – Worthless Things was directed by Daniele Pezzi and Agostino Cordelli. The photographer recounts his personal story of discovery and approach to photography, describing his connection with his house in Ronta.
Guido Guidi – Worthless Things
A short documentary by Daniele Pezzi and Agostino Cordelli
2017, 22′ 32”
Original Title: Guido Guidi – Cose da Nulla
