Xavier Miserachs, the photographer, left a strong impression on this profession in his wake. His ability to capture striking instants, improbable events, ridiculous situations, or moving actions, and to leave a printed testimony of what many of us long for, was a characteristic way of understanding photography that has had, has, and will have countless followers. But for many he was the man who left the imprint of his time on the Empordà. By identifying with this small region, its people and a lifestyle and way of feeling he won over everyone’s affection. With his honest disposition, wry smile and hearty laugh, he inspired us all to want to live and to live here in the Empordà.

A few months after his death, many of us, those who were captivated by the photographer on the one hand and Xavier’s close friends on the other, wanted to pay homage to the man who was one of the greatest professionals from the photography world, and to the man who so often inspired us with emotions and his enthusiasm for life and for our surroundings.

This publication, full of texts by friends and filled with Miserachs’s own photographs along with those by professional colleagues who participated in the series of exhibitions to pay homage to him, aims to be both a testimony of love and admiration, as well as the cornerstone of a project which Miserachs himself would surely have shared and supported. The goal is to ensure that photography has an active presence in cultural agendas and that it receives the attention it so richly deserves in everyday life. The exhibitions included in this homage make up the initial edition of the Biennal de Fotografia that will bear the name of Xavier Miserachs, striving to keep this activity of which Xavier was a true master alive and well in our region.