Pilar Martin |
Madrid (EFE).- Traveling through Spain with the help of photographers such as Cristina García Rodero, Carlos Spottorno or Sofía Moro is possible thanks to “España. Portrait of a country”, a book with 100 snapshots that cover our geography to remind us that we are a “humane, friendly, diverse” country.
This is how photographer Carlos Spottorno, one of the 35 artists on this list of beauty capturers who have contributed their material for this book published by La Fábrica La Fábrica, in collaboration with the Institute of Tourism of Spain.
A volume that builds a story in images of the Spain of the 21st century and that comes to compare it with the one that was published with the same objective in 1987: “what it shows is that we have changed a lot and the cover of the book reflects that change”.
A more rural version
Spottorno refers to the photograph by Estela de Castro called “Family”, in which there are two mothers with their two children and their five pets.
“In that we have changed (…) here there is a more rural than urban presence, it is more focused on the rural, on the urban but friendly, a friendly vision of Spain, not intellectualized. It has a human, friendly, diverse edition. They are window photos where the outside is photographed and not so much the inside, where the photographer is not so much the protagonist”, explained this photographer, author of books such as “Don’t come back to Rome”.
This is so because in this book we will be able to remember that there are still children who bathe in the rivers, that there are also small “Moncloas” where the elders manage the country, or that there was a time (not so far away) in which the Tables of Daimiel they had water.
“This book shows the Spain that is, authentic, and the one we like”, qualifies Spottorno who provides four photos that take us to a bike ride through the Granada town of Guadix, a panoramic view of the Hoces del Río Riaza, the moment in which they pick up a painting in the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum or another from that area of Daimiel.
A sample of cultural heritage
To give or to give yourself, “Spain. Portrait of a Country” also takes us to those places where life is calmer, where the rhythm is not marked by the horn of the cars, territories through which other artists such as Xurxo Lobato, Samuel Aranda have also passed to capture them in their objectives. , Miguel Trillo, Matías Costa, Carmela García, Eduardo Nave, Gloria Oyarzábal or José María Alguersuari.
They are the ones that show part of the cultural heritage of our country, such as the vision of Las Fallas, by David Jiménez or Cristina García Rodero; the Carnivals, by Xurxo Lobato; Holy Week, from the goal of Manuel Naranjo Martell or the Rocío Pilgrimage, by Aitor Lara. Added to these are the traditions of the new Spain, such as the celebration of the Chinese New Year, with a photograph by Rafael Trapiello.
With a prologue by the writer Elvira Sastre, La Fábrica and Turespaña aim to explain “to locals and foreigners” what our country is, what interests those of us who inhabit it.
Along with these professional images, the book is completed with the winning photographs of the public call “Spain, portrait of a country”, organized within the framework of PHotoESPAÑA. There are 19 images, one for each autonomous community and the two autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
The book will be distributed internationally starting this summer and will also be disseminated through the 33 tourist offices that Turespaña has spread across different countries with the aim of promoting Spain as a tourist destination.