Gabriele Basilico
Gabriele Basilico (Milan, 1944–2013) devoted himself to photography after graduating in Architecture in 1973. From the beginning of his career, his main focus was the form and identity of cities, as well as the changes taking place in urban landscapes.
His project Milan: Portraits of Factories (1978–1980) was his first major work on the industrial outskirts of the city and led to his first museum exhibition in 1983 at the Contemporary Art Pavilion (PAC) in Milan.
In 1984, he was invited to join the Mission Photographique de la DATAR, a photographic project commissioned by the French government, for which he documented the northern coast of France. In 1991, he took part in another international photographic mission in Beirut at the end of the civil war that had lasted more than fifteen years. He returned to Beirut three more times, in 2003, 2008, and 2011.
In 1996, together with architect Stefano Boeri, he carried out an extensive study of landscape transformation entitled Sections of the Italian Landscape, which was presented at the 6th Venice Architecture Biennale.
Over the years, Basilico completed numerous documentary projects on cities in Italy and abroad. Among his most significant later works are photographic projects on San Francisco (2007, commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), Moscow (2008), Istanbul (2010), Shanghai (2010), Beirut (2011), and Rio de Janeiro (2011).
In 2012, he participated in the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice with the project Common Pavilions.
Widely regarded as one of the leading masters of contemporary photography, Basilico exhibited his work internationally and received many awards and honours. Alongside his photographic practice, he maintained a strong interest in urban transformation through seminars, lectures, conferences, and written reflections.
His works are held in major public and private collections around the world. In 2023–2024, the city of Milan paid tribute to him with two major exhibitions, at the Triennale Milano and Palazzo Reale, under the shared title My Cities.
