Premio Luigi Ghirri 2026

GFI | Premio Luigi Ghirri invites Italian artists under 35 to submit their projects exploring the theme Voices. Finalists will receive support, have their work exhibited at Fotografia Europea in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and compete for a €4,000 cash prize.

Overview

We live in an age of constant streams of images and information, where it seems as though photography and technology show us the full spectrum of reality. Yet some things remain silent: human beings, other living and non-living beings, and the past and future. Can images evoke these silent voices?

The 2026 edition of GFI | Premio Luigi Ghirri invites Italian artists to reflect on the theme Voices. The open call is dedicated to artists under 35, aimed at discovering and supporting emerging photographic talent in Italy. Inspired by Irene Solà’s polyphonic novel When I Sing, Mountains Dance, this year's call invites artists to consider how photographic language might bring multiple voices into resonance.

An international commission selects a group of finalists whose works receive a production fee and are exhibited collectively within the Fotografia Europea program in Reggio Emilia. The selection committee may give preference to recent or unpublished projects. Exhibition layouts are developed collaboratively by the selected artists and the curatorial team.

Practical Info

To participate, candidates must be Italian—whether residing in Italy or abroad—or foreign artists legally residing in Italy. Each applicant may submit only one project, and those selected in any of the last three editions are not eligible.

Applications must include 5 to 15 images, a project description in both Italian and English with links to video materials if relevant, along with a CV, a short English biography, and a sketch or description of an exhibition proposal designed for a wall. Submissions may involve multiple media, but photography must remain central.

Finalists receive €1,500, intended to cover the production and transport of works, as well as travel and accommodation in Reggio Emilia during the exhibition’s preparation and opening days. Among the finalists, an international jury will award the Luigi Ghirri Prize, worth €4,000, during the opening days of Fotografia Europea (April 30 – May 3, 2026). The 2026 exhibition, GFI #13: Luigi Ghirri Award, will be held in the halls of Palazzo dei Musei within the festival program.

In addition to the main prize, the program offers further opportunities. Through Nuove traiettorie – GFI a Stoccolma, one finalist will be selected for an artist residency in Stockholm, where they will research and create a project to be exhibited at the Italian Cultural Institute. Fotofestiwal Łódź will invite one or more finalists to take part in Photo-Match during its 2026 edition, covering travel, accommodation, and meals.

The jury is composed of Danit Ariel (Artist, Writer, and Curator), Ilaria Campioli (Curator), Krzysztof Candrowicz (Curator, Artistic Director, and Researcher), Daniele De Luigi (Curator), and Femke Rotteveel (Director of Fotodok, Utrecht).

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 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 partnership with the Italian Culture Institute of Stockholm and in collaboration with GAI - Association for the Circuit of Young Italian Artists; Fotografia Europea Festival, Reggio Emilia; Fotodok, Utrecht; Fotofestiwal Łódź in Poland; Photoworks, Brighton. With the support of Reire srl and Gruppo Giovani Imprenditori Unindustria Reggio Emilia. Through the network of partners, GFI aims to create further opportunities of visibility for artists.