Luigi Ghirri: Viaggi gathers Luigi Ghirri’s photographs from 1970 to 1991 around the persistent subject of travel. Edited by James Lingwood and published by MACK in 2024, the 184-page volume follows journeys not only through physical landscapes but also through the images and objects that shape how places are imagined: the Dolomites and northern Italian lakes, Adriatic and Mediterranean resorts, museums, archaeological sites, theme parks, atlases, postcards, and Ghirri’s own bookshelves.

Its approach is deliberately expansive. Rather than treating travel as a simple record of movement, the book traces the passage between lived places, reproduced views, souvenirs, and acts of looking. Familiar photographs are placed alongside previously unseen discoveries from the Ghirri archive, creating a sequence in which recognisable landmarks can lead to unexpected detours. This structure reflects Ghirri’s playful yet serious understanding of photography in an era marked by mass tourism and the widespread circulation of images.

The volume also provides a considered framework for approaching Ghirri as a major artist of the late twentieth century. Essays by Tobia Bezzola, James Lingwood, and Maria Antonella Pelizzari situate his work within Italian and international contexts, while addressing the broader systems through which images are produced, encountered, and consumed. Co-published with MASI Lugano, the book accompanied the exhibition Luigi Ghirri: Viaggi. Photographs 1970–1991, held at the Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana from 8 September 2024 to 26 January 2025.

For collectors, its distinction lies in the clarity of its organising idea and the breadth of the material gathered under it. Viaggi is neither a straightforward retrospective nor a travel album: it is a curated account of how Ghirri’s photography moves between landscape, popular imagery, memory, and the book as an object of attention. That combination makes the volume a focused entry into an essential practice, while preserving the surprises of an archive-led selection.