«This short text on the work and thought of Giovanni Chiaramonte is part of a larger study on the theme of light published in 2004. In this study I have tried to show how, within the human experience, no reflection on light can avoid confronting the issues relating to the nature of the gaze and the status of the image: any serious questioning about light is forced to reflect at the same time also on the gaze and the image. It is precisely in relation to this anthropologically essential intertwining that Chiaramonte's work seemed particularly significant to me, taking a path that in the last fifteen years has become increasingly clear and mature.» — Silvano Petrosino
Giovanni Chiaramonte
Born in Varese in 1948 of parents from Gela in Sicily, Giovanni Chiaramonte began his activity as a photographer at the end of the 1960s, working for a revival of the figurative form after the abstract and informal season of certain trends in Pop Art and Conceptual Art of the XXth century.
He has always devoted his attention to the relationship between place and destiny in Western civilization, in the name of the infinite that opens in the instantaneous time of photography. His most important works include: Giardini e paesaggi, 1983; Terra del ritorno, 1989; Penisola delle figure, 1993; Westwards, 1996-2013; Milan. Rings of the Middle City, 2000; Dolce è la luce, 2003; Like an Enigma_Venice, 2006: Hidden in perspective, 2007; In Berlin, 2009; L’altro_Nei volti nei luoghi, 2010-2011; E.I.A.E. – Et In Arcadia Ego, 2012; Interno perduto, 2012; Piccola creazione, 2013; Jerusalem, 2014; La misura dell'Occidente, with Alvaro Siza, 2015-2018, The Evolving European City with Giuseppe Marinoni, 2015; Ultima Sicilia, 2016; Salvare l’ora, 2018; Verso Gerusalemme, 2019.
Since 1974 he has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions worldwide, at the Milan Triennale in 2000, 2009, 2011 and at the Venice Biennale in 1992, 1993, 1997, 2004, 2013.
In 2005 he was awarded an honorary degree in Architecture by the University of Palermo. In 2010 he exhibited Hidden in Perspective at the Shangai Expo. In 2021 he was elected a member of the Accademia di San Luca.
He has founded and directed photography series for various Italian publishers. He teaches Theory and History of Photography at the Free University IULM in Milan.
Giovanni Chiaramonte
Giovanni Chiaramonte, Àlvaro Siza
Fausto Giaccone
Lisetta Carmi
Euro Rotelli
Claudia Marini
Alessio Vissani
Laura Leonelli
Laura Leonelli
Fabio Lovino
Irene Alison
Franco Zecchin
