CRISTINA ARRIGONI

Just out of high school, Cristina Arrigoni spent a few years in Milano, Italy, working as a theatre actress. She couldn’t help but commit herself also to her other passions: writing, painting, sculpting and also photography, fascinated as she was with the famous pioneers of the past century, like Cartier-Bresson, Brassai and Dorothea Lange.

Having always been very passionate about blues music, she’s travelled extensively all over the world to photograph concert performances. She thus developed a unique photographic style and a knack for creative post-production. Very much in love with Dalì and the Surrealists, Cristina has created a highly pictorial and multilayered approach that often pushes her images into the realm of illustration.

In 2010 she met American musician Willie Nile, who not only has since become her favorite subject, but also her significant other. It’s the countless photos that she has taken of guitarist Randy Hansen, who asked her to become his personal photographer, that have put her name on the map internationally. She has gone on to photograph and collaborate with such artists as John Mayall, Jackson Browne, Billy Idol, U2, Johnny Winter, B.B. King, Leon Hendrix, Gene Taylor, Arthur Miles, James Harman, Massimo Priviero. Her collaboration with “Backstreets” led her to photograph Bruce Springsteen. Her photos have been published in “Rolling Stone Germany” and “Rolling Stone Australia”, “El Pais”, “Blues-E-News” and on several record covers. Her work has been the subject of a huge exhibition in Montepulciano, Italy.