Matera Panorama with Bell Towers Soaring into the Sky. IT002_014 Print - Limited Edition of 19

Paolo Grassi was born in Tuscany and began photographing at a very young age in an analytical manner starting from 1976, after studying photographic technique and lighting based on the experiences of Andreas Feininger and Ansel Adams. For about 15 years, he explored the elements of nature and people through the filter of photographic film with a 35mm reflex camera, which, due to its compactness, accompanied him daily for many years in his visual exploration. Many images were captured on film, and only a small portion was personally printed in black and white in a darkroom. A significant aspect of this period is the photographic research conducted in Sardinia in 1979 (the year of the kidnapping of singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André in Gallura), where he interpreted and documented the environment, traditions, and faces of the people in black and white.