Giacomo Brunelli

Brunelli was born in Perugia, Italy. He grew up in the countryside and spent his childhood playing with animals. He graduated from university in Communications and took a six-month course in photojournalism in Rome where he had been living before moving to London.

Brunelli has photographed "animals in the countryside, backyards, fields and farms since 2004" in Italy. He calls this series "animal-focused street photography". His film noir aesthetic makes them "seem singled out or stopped in their tracks". He gets as close as his camera will allow, which "forces the animals to either flight or fight," at which point he photographs them. "It is all about capturing that moment of reaction, triggered through various approaches that vary from animal to animal. Whether it is ignoring them, running after them or using their natural curiosity for the shot." In 2008, The New Art Gallery Walsall will present his first museum show and in the same year Dewi Lewis Publishing publishes the series.

In 2012, he was commissioned by The Photographers' Gallery in London to make the Eternal London series, which he worked on every day for two years creating a body of work between film noir, street photography and sculpture. The book was selected by Martin Parr and included in the "Strange and Familiar" exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London in 2017. Again using his film noir style, the silhouettes of people and animals are set against well known London landmarks.[6] After following a person he wishes to photograph, "working discreetly, Brunelli often uses a removable viewfinder, to be able to photograph his subjects from waist height and other unusual angles, such as directly from behind and with extreme close-up", obscuring their faces.[6] He uses "light, shadow and contrast to imbue his images with a dramatic atmosphere and a feeling of claustrophobia."[6] In 2014 The Photographers' Gallery will exhibit the work in a solo show.

In the summer 2010, while searching for animals in Umbria, Brunelli noticed his shadow projected on a white road and decided to start the Self Portraits series, which it will be completed in 2013. Brunelli says that he took inspiration from Arte Povera. The project will be published in Paris by Editions Bessard in 2016.

In 2015, Deichtorhallen museum commissioned Brunelli to work on the city of Hamburg and the series will be exhibited at Robert Morat Galerie and published in 2021 by Editions Bessard (Paris).

Between 2017 and 2019 he has produced his latest body of work to date on New York City, exhibited at The Photographers'Gallery in London in October 2019 and published in 2020 by Skinnerboox (Italy).

Brunelli worked in Venice (Italy) between 2020 and 2022 for a project that he self-published in June 2022 under his own publishing house called Tantopress (London, Uk)

• The Animals, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK, 2008; Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR; The Photographers' Gallery, London, 2010; Transphotographiques, Lille, France, 2011. • Eternal London, The Photographers' Gallery, London, 2014.

• Venice. London: TantoPress, 2022.. • Hamburg. Paris: Bessard, 2021.. • New York. Skinnerboox. Jesi, 2020.. • The Animals. Stockport: Dewi Lewis, 2008.. With an introduction by Alison Nordström. • Second expanded edition. Stockport: Dewi Lewis, 2016.. With a foreword by Nordström. • Eternal London. Stockport: Dewi Lewis, 2014.. • Second edition. Stockport: Dewi Lewis, 2016.. • Self Portraits. Paris: Bessard, 2016..

• Bird. Hoxton Mini Press, 2022 written by Gemma Padley. • The Power of the Dog. Assouline, 2021 book from the movie by Jane Campion. • Strange and Familiar. Barbican Centre, Prestel 2017. by Martin Parr. • Keeper of the Hearth. Schilt, 2020. • Unseen London. Hoxton Mini Press, 2019. • Masters of Street Photography. Ammonite, 2019. • Mono Vol.2. Gomma, 2016.