Patricio Reig (born 1959, San Juan, Argentina) is an Argentine photographer who lives and works in Milan.

His artistic practice is built upon a rigorous inquiry that intertwines conceptual reflection with the study of photographic chemistry and physics. He utilizes historical processes—such as the darkroom, the ambrotype, and the dry plate—not as mere citations of the past, but as genuine tools of thought. In his work, paper is not an inert support but a structural element, physically manipulated through folds and tensions to influence the formation of the image itself.

One of the most original aspects of his technique is the use of coffee as a fixing agent. During this process, the paper is folded to encourage concentrations and drips that become an integral part of the work’s visual vocabulary. Each piece is finally completed with a cotton muslin frame, edges embroidered with filanca thread, and a protective treatment based on beeswax and microcrystalline waxes, which accentuates its tactile quality.

Reig’s work is distinguished by the absolute uniqueness of every piece, rejecting serial reproducibility to embrace chemical accidents and imperfection as testimonies of time and memory. Through portraits and natural fragments that take on the appearance of vestiges, the artist reclaims the slowness and the material dimension of the photographic process, in direct opposition to the standardization of the contemporary digital image.