La fotografa PAOLA GHIROTTI, vive tra Roma e Urbino.
Da 30 anni indaga a fondo le tradizioni del Giappone; unGiappone® è il marchio con il quale veicola il suo archivio fotografico in pellicola, oltre agli scritti, agli studi e alle ricerche sulla fotografia.
Paola Ghirotti lives between Rome and Urbino.
For 30 years she has been deeply investigating the traditions of Japan; unGiappone® is the brand with which she conveys her photographic archive in film, as well as her writings, studies and research on photography. She is a member of Aistugia, ‘Italian Association for Japanese Studies’.
In 1979 she began collaborating with the graphic designer Piergiorgio Maoloni who commissioned her first important work: the renewal of the archive of the Provincial Tourist Authority of Latina; in the same year she took part in the event Venezia ‘79 La Fotografia.
In 1987 she did a black and white shoot for the film The Belly of an Architect by director Peter Greenaway with Hasselblad SWC, which remains her favourite camera.
Since 1989 struck by the charisma of the driver Ayrton Senna da Silva follows the F1 circuit; the last documented G.P. will be in April 1994 in Aida, Japan. On the 20th anniversary of the Brazilian driver’s death, the images have been collected in an exhibition: Ayrton Senna at the speed of his heart. Held in Todi inside the Todi Festival 2019, in 2020 programmed at MAICC Multimedia Museum Imola Racetrack-Checco Costa was cancelled due to Covid-19.
In 1991, with the Kaleidos studio, she created the multi-image Animula vagula, blandula... taken from Marguerite Yourcenar’s Memoirs of Hadrian, The Media Save Art ‘91 / Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Teatro Argentina.
In 1994 she realized a series of reportages on the occasion of the closing of the Kansai airport and the documentation of ‘environmental impact’ for the presentation of the project of the New Auditorium of Rome-Parco della Musica, of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop.
In 1995 she published for Fratelli Palombi Editore the volume un Giappone; her photos, with those of Bunkacho, ‘Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs’, are the basis of the educational video of the exhibition Il Giappone prima dell’Occidente, held at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome; she exhibits, as the first Italian photographer, at the Japanese Institute of Culture in Rome together with the photographer Akimoto Shigeru, with a presentation paper by Professor Fosco Maraini.
In 1996 she held her solo exhibition Kyoto: Details of spring and autumn, at the Goethe Institut Kansai, on the occasion of the Second International Symposium on the future of historical cities.
In 1996-1997 she curated the public relations for the Raku Museum in Kyoto, on the occasion of the Raku exhibition. A dynasty of Japanese ceramists, held in Faenza, Paris, Leeuwarden and Tokyo.
In 1996-1998 she documented the environmental redevelopment of piazza Montecitorio, Zagari studio; the restoration and computerisation of the Sala del Mappamondo, the headquarters of the Chamber of Deputies.
In 2001 the personal Italia no bi, Japan no bi at the Fine Art Museum of Gifu, she is the president of the jury of the Paola Ghirotti photo contest organized by Chunichi Shimbun and Fujifilm-Japan.
In 2002 she illustrates Le Japon des Japonais and Le Maroc des Marocains, on 20o4 La Chine des Chinois publisher Liana Levi-Seuil.
In 2005 she began publishing calendars: a regular appointment for collectors and lovers of photography.
In 2007 she edited and coordinated Mistero Giappone, special notebook of Limes - Magazine of Geopolitics.
On March 11, 2011 an earthquake, followed by a devastating tsunami, hit the coast of Tohoku, causing the disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. In April of the same year, the photographer travelled to the area to closely follow the situation and document it: she will do so regularly in the following years.
In 2012, the Ambassador of Japan in Italy, H.A. Khono Masaharu, recognizes her with a certificate of thanks for the solidarity shown towards the people affected by the tragedy.
In 2016 she is called to exhibit in the town of Minamisoma, prefecture of Fukushima: the Watashi wa Wasurenai project was born, whose last events were held in March 2019 in Japan, at the Gifu Seiryu Plaza and the WEGIL in Rome-Tohoku day. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Italy, she edited and curated Appunti di bellezza: Japan no bi, Urbino no bi, an event organized by ‘Urbino International Centre’.
In 2020 she pubblished for CasadeiLibri Editore the photobook [archive] photos by Paola Ghirotti, Jidai Matsuri 1990-2020 Festival of Ages.
