Exhibitions

DOROTHEA LANGE

“DOROTHEA LANGE. UN LLARG VIATGE” (Dorothea Lange. A long journey)

Dorothea Lange. Nena d’un barri marginal de la ciutat d’Oklahoma, 1936
Cortesia de la Biblioteca del Congrés dels EUA, Divisió d’Impressions i Fotografies, Col·lecció FSA

Dorothea Lange is the artist behind one of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century: the portrait of Florence Thompson with her children. Commonly known as the ‘Migrant Mother’, the image has become a symbol of the Great Depression and a mother’s sacrifice.

Yet Lange’s work is much more than this troubling image. During the 1930s and 1940s, she worked extensively for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) governmental agency, in which she documented the exodus and the plight of American farming families affected by the economic crisis, the droughts, and the dust bowl in the United States. Her images, often accompanied by her handwritten notes, captured the day-to-day life and the humanity of her subjects.

Educated at Columbia University in New York City, Lange opened a studio in San Francisco in 1918, where she gained recognition as a portrait photographer. The experience she gained allowed her to develop a portfolio based on dialogue, mutual understanding, and empathy.

The exhibition “Dorothea Lange. Un llarg viatge” (Dorothea Lange. A long journey) highlights a route through the physical, human, and emotional landscapes that the photographer visited; an exceptional testimony which on the one hand exemplifies her desire to capture and depict a reality and on the other reveals a great sensitivity to transcend that reality and endow it with an immense artistic dimension.

All the images in this exhibition come from the United States Library of Congress; Prints and Photographs Division, the Farm Security Administration Collection.

La Bòbila
Carrer de la Garriga, 24

FROM 2 AUGUST TO 13 SEPTEMBER
Monday to Sunday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. (including 15 August and 11 September)

FROM 14 SEPTEMBER TO 18 OCTOBER
Tuesday to Friday: from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday: closed
12 October: closed

“SERGIO LARRAIN. EL VAGABUNDO DE VALPARAÍSO. RETROSPECTIVA” (Sergio Larrain. The vagabond of Valparaíso. A retrospective)

Carrer principal de Corleone. Sicília, Itàlia, 1959. © Sergio Larrain / Magnum Photos

Sergio Larrain (Xile, 1931-2012) believed that «a good image is created based on a state of grace». That conviction led him to create a photographic oeuvre freed from any convention and imbued with intimate and mysterious lyricism.

Coming from a family of the Chilean haute bourgeoisie and educated in the United States, captivated by urban life, Larrain started to take photographs in the 1950s as he strolled through the streets of his hometown, Santiago.

Early recognition for his talent led him to work abroad and to become the first Latin American member of the Magnum Photos agency. For years, he cultivated social and poetic photography, characterised by off-centred compositions, unusual perspectives, and profound shadows, which would inspire future generations.

The exhibition “Sergio Larrain. El vagabundo de Valparaíso. Retrospectiva” (Sergio Larrain. The vagabond of Valparaíso. A retrospective) covers his brief but fruitful career through some of the most emblematic photographs of his journey through Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Europe, in particular those taken in London and various cities across Italy, before returning to his country and definitively settling in the countryside of Tulahuén, where he dedicated himself to meditation, yoga, drawing, and writing.

The exhibition has been produced by Magnum Photos, commissioned by Agnès Sire, and organized by the Biennal de Fotografia Xavier Miserachs in collaboration with the Fundació Foto Colectania.

www.magnumphotos.com

Museu del Suro de Catalunya
Placeta del Museu, s/n – Tel. 972 30 78 25

FROM 2 AUGUST TO 13 SEPTEMBER
Monday to Saturday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. (including 15 August and 11 September)
Sunday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

SERGIO LARRAIN

GABRIEL CUALLADÓ

“POÈTICA DE LA SENZILLESA” (Poetics of simplicity)

Clemente amb tricicle. Madrid, 1960 © Hereus Gabriel Cualladó

Gabriel Cualladó (Massanassa, 1925 – Madrid, 2003) started out as a photographer in 1951 and launched a self-taught career that would culminate in the creation of a highly recognisable signature language.

Five years later, he entered the Royal Photographic Society of Madrid. In 1957, Cualladó joined AFAL, the same point in time that he started what today has become one of the best photo libraries in Spain as well as an excellent photographic collection.

In the 1980s, Cualladó gained recognition in Spain through numerous exhibitions, including the anthology organised by the IVAM in 1989. In 1994, he was awarded the Spanish National Photography Award.

With a clear aesthetic and a keen social awareness, Cualladó captured his most familiar and intimate universe based on honesty and attentiveness. The artist behind excellent portraits, Cualladó created timeless images that influenced and captivated his contemporaries and younger generations without any artifice and with meticulous skill.

The exhibition brings the public at large closer to the photographer’s work through a selection of images, most of which are portraits, and iconic street scenes, which reflect his modern outlook and convey emotions that are undoubtedly laden with poetry.

www.gabriel-cuallado.org

Fundació Vila Casas. Can Mario
Plaça de Can Mario, 7 – Tel. 972 30 62 46

FROM 2 AUGUST TO 18 OCTOBER
Wednesday to Sunday: from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Monday and Tuesday: closed
15 August and 11 September: closed

“ADJECTIVAR EL TEMPS. TXEMA SALVANS – JOSEP PLA” (How to quality time. Txema Salvans – Josep Pla)

Sèrie Les destrosses d’una catàstrofe, 2018 © Txema Salvans

Txema Salvans (Barcelona, 1971) has engaged in a style of photography that could be characterised as rejuvenating and at the same time critical which has made him one of the most recognisable artists on the Catalan photographic scene.

He studied at the International Photography Center in New York, he broadened his training at the Benetton artistic creation space, and shortly thereafter created numerous successful long-term projects that have been included in exhibitions and books. Salvans has won important awards (Best Book Prize in PhotoEspaña for Nice to meet you, 2005, winner of the Best Ibero-American Book from the RM publishing house for The Waiting Game, 2013), his work has been exhibited in prestigious spaces in Catalonia and across the world, and he has collaborated with renowned publications including The New York Times, El País, Monocle, Stern, and The Guardian, among many others.

With a keen interest in observing humankind, Salvans captures everyday scenes, frequently associated with the leisure of the working classes, to which he adds a tragicomic and often heartbreaking dimension.

The exhibition entitled “Adjectivar el temps. Txema Salvans – Josep Pla” (How to qualify time. Txema Salvans – Josep Pla) delves into the creative processes of photography and writing to discover the elements they have in common. Despite the distance and the contextual differences between their creations, the two artists are aligned on certain aspects which this exhibition showcases: curiosity, observation, precision and discipline, attention to details, the local yet universal vision… In short, literature and photography are presented as two singular yet complementary forms of engaging with the world.

www.txemasalvans.com

Fundació Josep Pla
Carrer Nou, 51 – Tel. 972 30 55 77

FROM 2 AUGUST TO 13 SEPTEMBER
Monday to Friday (including 11 September): from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays (including 15 August): from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

FROM 14 SEPTEMBER TO 18 OCTOBER
Tuesday to Friday: from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Saturday: from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Monday: closed
12 October: closed

TXEMA SALVANS

“ELS CASANOVAS. NISSAGA DE FOTÒGRAFS” (THE CASANOVAS. A LINEAGE OF PHOTOGRAPHERS)

Fotografia Casanovas. D’esq. a dta.: Felícia Rigau, Pepita Bruguera i Marina Alemany. Carnaval. Palafrugell, 1931.
Arxiu Municipal de Palafrugell. Donació Mireia Carreras Parals

One hundred and fifty years ago, Lluís Casanovas Marquès (Palafrugell, 1857 – ca. 1936) was the pioneer of a series of photographers who ceaselessly portrayed numerous generations of families in Palafrugell. All of them were portrait artists, but they were also the photographers behind several local news stories.

This trade was taken up by the founder’s children, Ling Casanovas Lallement (Épernay, 1891 – Palafrugell, 1954) and Aura Casanovas Lallement (Épernay 1895 – Palafrugell, 1988), the latter dedicated exclusively to image colouring, while his nephew Lluís Casanovas Sierra (Palafrugell, 1919-2011) and great-nephew Lluís Casanovas Martínez (Barcelona, 1950) also followed in his footsteps.

This exhibition is the result of exhaustive research carried out in the Casanovas family archive and covers the history of Palafrugell, linked in this case to the history of photography and the transformations and vicissitudes that both experienced over the course of more than a century. This participatory project seeks to showcase the personal and collective memory that has relied on the collaboration of Palafrugell’s residents, who have provided a vast number of photographs of family members and ancestors, the Municipal Archive, which preserves a good part of the legacy, the Municipal Theatre of Palafrugell and the Butcher’s Market, as well as numerous establishments that form part of the Oohx!gen Palafrugell Commerce and Business Association, which will display the works in their facilities.

Exhibition Hall of the Municipal Theatre
Carrer de Santa Margarida, 1 – Tel. 972 61 11 72

FROM 2 AUGUST TO 13 SEPTEMBER
Monday to Sunday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. (including 15 August and 11 September)

“EL PAISATGE INVISIBLE” (The invisible landscape)

Sèrie El paisatge invisible. Delta de l’Ebre, 2021-2025 © Wayra Ficapal

Wayra Ficapal (Cochabamba, Bolívia, 1991) is a Catalan photographer, journalist, and graphic editor. With a keen interest in long-term documentary projects, her works have been published across various media outlets.

The winner of a variety of awards and grants, such as the COAH Contemporary Architecture Photography Award (2016), the grant from the XVIII Albarracín Photography and Journalism Seminar (2018) and the Clic Photojournalism grant (2019), she currently combines her commissions with teaching and personal projects.

“El paisatge invisible” (The Invisible Landscape) addresses the current state of the Ebro Delta where the lack of sediments retained in the Mequinensa i Riba-roja reservoirs and the pressure of climate change threaten the delta’s very survival. The artist documents this region and intervenes in the photographs with water from the Mediterranean Sea, the very thing that is invading and destroying the wetlands. The photographs continue to degrade as the previously visible images become invisible. Ficapal thus explores new forms of representing the landscape while also promoting environmental awareness.

This project has been carried out thanks to a grant from the National Geographic Society and the support of the Roca Umbert Arts Factory.

www.wayraficapal.com

Sant Sebastià de la Guarda Watchtower. Llafranc

FROM 2 AUGUST TO 13 SEPTEMBER
Monday to Sunday: from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (including 15 August and 11 September)

FROM 14 TO 20 SEPTEMBER
Tuesday to Saturday: from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday: closed

WAYRA FICAPAL

CARLES PALACIO

“TREBALLADORS DE LA MAR” (Seafarers)

Carles Palacio (Girona, 1988) is the artist behind numerous documentary works in Catalonia and Europe concerning social conflicts, which he has published across various media platforms in Spain and around the world. He currently combines this work with collaborations in the news media, design studios, and advertising agencies.

In 2015, he won the INSPAI Young Photographer Award (Provincial Government of Girona) with the Polvorins (Powder Kegs), about the Les Pedreres district in Girona and 2016, while Government of Catalonia awarded him a special mention for the series entitled La felicitat inconscient (Unconscious joy) about underage refugees in Perpignan.

“Treballadors de la mar” (Seafarers) focuses on the fishermen of the Costa Brava, highlighting the trials and tribulations facing this sector. The scant number of youngsters joining the professions, the harsh working conditions, the falling prices at the source, the smaller hauls due to climate changes and the reduction in the fishing fleet along with new European regulations are just some of the reasons behind the precarious situation that currently threatens the sector.

The exhibition offers a familiar yet unusual photographic perspective that highlights one of humanity’s oldest trades.

www.carlespalacio.com

Sèrie Treballadors de la mar. Costa Brava, 2018-2022 © Carles Palacio

Biblioteca Pública
Carrer de Sant Martí, 18 – Tel. 972 30 48 09

FROM 2 TO 31 AUGUST
Monday to Friday: from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturday: from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Sunday and holidays: closed

FROM 1 SEPTEMBER TO 18 OCTOBER
Monday to Friday: from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Saturday: from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Sunday and holidays: closed

Free entrance

COLLECTIVE

“LOCAL ÉS GLOBAL” (Local is global)

This selection of photos forms part of the Banco Sabadell Art Collection – Documentary photography brings together numerous testimonies that address current topics from an implicit desire to stake claims and engage in social commitment.

Faithful to the goals and values of the best photojournalism, this exhibition explores the most urgent challenges affecting the planet today, ranging from the most local settings to the most global: climate change, overexploitation of resources, migration, economic, political, and health crises, the decline of the welfare state, identity conflicts, and more, as observed form the perspective of numerous artists, many of whom have received awards in such prestigious contests as the World Press Photo, among others. Some of the artists have been on display in previous editions of the Biennal de Fotografia Xavier Miserachs.

La Bòbila
Carrer de la Garriga, 24

FROM 2 AUGUST TO 13 SEPTEMBER
Monday to Sunday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. (including 15 August and 11 September)

“FOTOGRAFIA [EN] COBERTA” ([Under] Cover Photography)

COLLECTIVE

Photos are often chosen to illustrate a book cover. Figuring out why, examining the relationship established with the book’s content, the selection guidelines and the documentary sources that are consulted is not the goal of this small collective exhibition, created with an eye to the future and featuring renowned artists, rather it seeks to highlight the desire to ask these questions and others around this effective and fruitful symbiotic relationship.

Apart from being a magnificent incentive to read or buy a book, images by Xavier Miserachs, Colita, Dorothea Lange, Gabriel Casas, Agustí Centelles, and Josep Carreras allude to the connection between literature, the publishing world, and photography, a bond that invites interdisciplinary dialogue and reflection on the use of photography in the literary sphere, beyond the initial objective for which it has been created.

Gabriel Casas. El tramvia número 12 ple a vessar. Barcelona, 1932-1934.
ANC. Fons Gabriel Casas i Galobardes (ANC1-5-N-5076)

Llibreria Nollegiu Mediterrània
Carrer de la Tarongeta, 24-26 – Tel. 972 42 94 91

FROM 2 TO 31 AUGUST
Monday: from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Tuesday to Saturday: from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (including 15 August)
Sunday: from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

FROM 1 SEPTEMBER TO 18 OCTOBER
Tuesday to Saturday: from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. (including 11 September)
Sunday: from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday: closed

Free entrance

VERO MORA NOYA

“OSSES” (Mother bears)

Vero Mora Noya (Ribes de Freser, 1982) is a nurse and a photographer. She trained in the ERAM School of Photography and subsequently carried out complementary studies in therapeutic and participatory photography at Instituto 8. This dual background, in healthcare and art, and her firm conviction in the power of images as tools for connection, expression, and guidance throughout the stages of life, determine and perfectly encapsulate her work.

“Osses” (Mother Bears) is a tribute to the female caregivers who at a certain time in their life must give up this duty to be cared for instead: a change of role that entails living through a silent transition from independence to dependence, which the photographer approaches with particular care and respect to highlight the fragility, dignity, and beauty of the bodies that are experiencing this process that is never easy or sufficiently visible.

Vestíbul del Museu del Suro de Catalunya
Placeta del Museu, s/n – Tel. 972 30 78 25

FROM 2 AUGUST TO 13 SEPTEMBER
Monday to Saturday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. (including 15 August and 11 September)
Sunday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Free entrance

“CUIXART A TRES BANDES I …” (Cuixart: A three-fold tribute)

Modest Cuixart Tàpies (Barcelona, 1925 – Palamós, 2007) arrived in Palafrugell in 1971, which signified a leap forward in the cultural life of a town with which he forged a profound emotional and professional connection.

The Biennal de Fotografia Xavier Miserachs is taking part in the activities scheduled by the City Government as part of the hundredth anniversary of the painter’s birth through this exhibition which aims to pay homage to the artist, the man, and the friend. This three-fold tribute compiles images of three self-taught photographers who knew and appreciated Cuixart: Josep Capellà (Torroella de Montgrí, 1950), Lluís Maimí (Palafrugell, 1945) and Francesc Dalmau (Palafrugell, 1953).

The love for photography, the affection they felt for the painter, and the admiration for his work unite three personal viewpoints, crafted from a professional, amateur, or first-hand gaze, that owe to distinct interests. The black and white portraits by Capellà and Maimí offer a more personal and approachable vision of Cuixart, while Dalmau’s snapshots boast great historical value by reflecting, above all, Cuixart’s extensive social work.

All the images come together to create a mosaic that showcases diverse aspects of the painter’s life in Palafrugell that are complementary and essential to understanding the dimension and scope of an artist with whom the photographers shared both experiences and expertise.

Espai Santa Margarida
Carrer de Santa Margarida 5-7 – Tel. 630 363 339

FROM 2 AUGUST TO 13 SEPTEMBER
Tuesday to Saturday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. (including 15 August and 11 September)
Sunday: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday: closed