Welcome to Hard Talk from the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker.

My guest today is one of the world's most famous photographers.

I've come to Tuscany, Italy, a land of olive groves and vines,

to visit the home of Oliviero Tuscani.

He was introduced to photography young. His father was a news photographer on

Corriera de la Cera when Mussolini was still in power in Italy. Young Olivierio showed talent. He was

soon in high demand as a photographer in the creative ferment of the late 60s, building his reputation in fashion,

art, music and celebrity. But he wasn't just a photographer. He was fascinated by design

and visual communication. His reputation prompted the Italian clothing company Benetton

to hire him to create their advertising campaigns.

And there, his work reached an audience around the world.

He had no interest in images of clothes.

Instead, he used pictures designed to provoke and confront,

depicting taboo illnesses like HIV-AIDS, a blood-stained military uniform,

a newborn baby, skin colours of every hue side by side. His ads weren't about selling product

so much as forcing the viewer to face the world as it really is.

It was an approach that got him into trouble.

He left Benetton amid a storm of controversy, not once but twice,

but he has won a host of international awards and a huge following around the world.

So what do his images say about him and all of us? Well, Olivier de Tuscani

joins me now. Welcome to Hard Talk. I must begin by asking, how are you? Because we know that

you've been struggling with illness. Lately and not so good.

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