After studying sociology, Arici turned his hand to photography, specialising in the realm of theatre, portraits and culture. 1980 marked the start of his collaboration with La Fenice Theatre in Venice where he covered the complete range of its artistic activities for over twenty years, documenting its architectural and decorative aspects in the finest detail. Indeed, he has photographed all the artistic and cultural activities in Venice, from the various Biennale art exhibitions to performances, concerts and important exhibitions. Between 1981 and 1986 he carried out extensive coverage of the work of Emilio Vedova and in 1988, that of Jim Dine. In 1984 Arici was Luigi Nono's personal photographer for the world premier of 'Prometeo' in Venice, and in 1985 he was appointed official photographer of Palazzo Grassi where he documented all the exhibition designs. This was followed by the 18th Art Biennale, for which he created a video using 400 photos illustrating the work of the artists during the preparatory stages. He happened to be in Berlin in 1989 when the wall was pulled down and during the same year produced a large-scale photographic service on the Cathar heresy in the south of France, in addition to documenting the life and artistic treasures of the Ghetto of Venice. In 1990-1991 he was still-photographer for Edgar Reitz's film Die zweite Heimat. In 1994 he documented the changing situation of the larger cities of former East Germany. He travelled to Bosnia and Sarajevo on numerous occasions between 1995 and 1996 and produced an eyewitness account of the cultural activities during the war and the state of cinema in Bosnia. Arici also travelled to Istria during this period and produced a comprehensive documentation of the Italian community in Croatia and Slovenia. In January 1996 he was the first photographer to take shots the fire which broke out in La Fenice Theatre. In 1998, together with Marcello Mencarini, he founded Rosebud, the first on-line news service to provide images in Italy and third in the world. Since 2000 he has systematically documented the archaeological research carried out in the lagoon and city of Venice, and the damage caused by super-exploitation of tourism in this city. In 2001 he documented the excavation and archaeological findings of the only galley ever found that came to light in the archaeological site of San Marco in Boccalama. In 2010 he has been responsible for a series of photographic shows illustrating author Ernest Hemingway's relationship with the Venetian territory. In 2009, after the historic Grazia Neri Agency closed down, he founded the Rosebud2 Agency, which now contains the heritage of the previous prestigious agency. The crowning glory of his work is the archive consisting of more than 850,000 slides in various sizes divided by topic. It includes tens of thousands of slides of Venice, with the largest collection of photos of La Fenice Theatre before the fire, and the most important coverage of the Jewish Ghetto of Venice. His Venetian archive also contains photos of the monumental, artistic and historic parts of the city and its daily life, in a series of works documenting the environmental degradation and problems surrounding conservation of the urban heritage. All the cultural events, as well as the main international exhibitions in Venice are illustrated since 1979. The portrait archive consists of a particularly rich collection, with portraits of approximately 20,000 personalities from the international world of art, culture, music and entertainment. Apart from which there are thousands of photos and reportages of cities and countries all over the world. The Archive was recently enhanced by the acquisition of photographs from between 1945 and 1978, making it the most important and comprehensive collection of images of cultural life in Venice, and one of the largest in Italy. In 2012, Graziano became the first photographer ever to be elected to the prestigious Ateneo Veneto, a 200 year old cultural society based in Venice. He collaborated with the Grazia Neri Agency in Milan from 1980 until it closed down, and with the Sygma Agency in Paris from 1989 until its closure. He currently manages the Rosebud2 Agency. Arici's photographs and reportages have been published in the most prestigious international magazines.In 2017 the Graziano Arici Archive was donated to the Querini Stampalia Foundation, for scientific and cultural use of the photographs. The archive is still managed by Graziano Arici. On 2 June 2018 the President of the Italian Republic appointed Graziano Arici, Knight of the Order of the Republic for Cultural Merits.