On Saturday 7 February at 5 pm, the exhibition Swinging London, the unseen works opens at Studio Iusgate, Via Castiglione 81, Bologna.

This second solo exhibition dedicated to Gian Butturini (1935–2006), organised by the gallery, presents a selection of photographs taken in London in 1969. Some of the most iconic images from the photobook London by Gian Butturini are shown alongside previously unseen works, exhibited here for the first time.

The exhibition is part of the Art City 2026 programme and will take part in Art City White Night, bringing back to Bologna a significant body of work from Butturini’s renowned reportage on late-1960s London.

The first edition of the photobook quickly sold out and soon became a cult volume, highly sought after by collectors.

Butturini’s images portray late-1960s London from a fresh, unvarnished perspective. They offer a journey through Swinging London—young people, girls in miniskirts, immigrants, Black communities, the marginalised, and the inhabitants of the City. The artist works freely with his images, shaping them according to the message he intends to convey: cropping, darkening, and graining them; juxtaposing the restless face of a hippie with the composed expression of a City financier.

In the mid-2010s, the renowned photographer Martin Parr came across London by Gian Butturini by chance and recognised it as “a neglected gem”. After contacting the Gian Butturini Association, he persuaded the Bologna-based publisher Damiani to republish the book in 2017, with a foreword of his own.

What followed became one of the most debated episodes in contemporary photography (2019–2021). A young Afro-British woman, having received the book as a gift, misinterpreted a juxtaposition of two images: a young Black woman in a ticket booth and a well-known gorilla at London Zoo. As Butturini himself wrote in the book, the pairing was intended to denounce all forms of racial and social humiliation and segregation. However, she read it as a racist equation—Black woman equals monkey.

Amid the charged climate of the Black Lives Matter movement and the broader debates around political correctness and so-called “woke” culture, her accusation spread rapidly on Twitter and across social media. The backlash became so intense that it led Parr to step down as director of the Bristol Photo Festival and to request that the publisher withdraw the book from circulation and pulp the remaining copies.

This outcome—the destruction of the book—was ultimately prevented by the Gian Butturini Association, which took responsibility for the entire remaining edition. Since then, it has carried out a significant programme of exhibitions and conferences aimed at restoring the historical understanding of Butturini’s work and legacy.

The exhibition features 25 works, 13 of which are previously unseen. Their presentation anticipates the publication of a second volume dedicated to Butturini’s London, which will include an extensive selection of newly rediscovered photographs.

Gian Butturini
Swinging London, the unseen works
curated by Jacopo Cenacchi

7 February, 6 pm
Talk with Marta Butturini
and Jacopo Cenacchi

7 February – 30 April 2026

GALLERIA STUDIO CENACCHI
Studio Iusgate venue, Via Castiglione 81
40124 Bologna

OPENING HOURS
Monday–Friday, 9 am–1 pm and 3–6 pm
Saturday and Sunday, closed