This photo talk is part of the activities of the 10th Photographic Week, organized in collaboration with the Cercle Artístic Sant Lluc.
After the institutional presentation, by Josep Parera, president of the Cercle Artístic Sant Lluc, and Ramon Barnadas, president of Fotoconnexió, Glòria Puigmal made the presentation of the Fototertúlia, and its speaker, Arnau Gonzàlez Vilalta.
Arnau holds a PhD in History from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where he is a full professor. Fins ara ha centrat la seva investigació en la política republicana espanyola, el nacionalisme català al llarg de segle XX, i la mirada exterior, diplomàtica i periodística, cap a Catalunya. However, this photo talk focuses on his first contribution in the field of the History of Photography, with the joint edition with Plácid García-Planas and David Ramos of the book “La Caixa Vermella. La Guerra Civil photographed by Antoni Campañà “, from the Comanegra publishing house.
Antoni Campañà (1906-1989) is one of these names “well known among strangers” that synthesizes photography throughout the past century in all its breadth. A pictorialist, master of bromoli, tourist postcard, sports photography or developing, until 2019 a part of his career that combined everything remained almost unpublished: his immense, rich and complex background of the Civil War.
Hidden in the back of Sant Cugat de Vallès’s house about to be demolished thirty years after his death, two red boxes appear.
What should they contain? A completely unexpected discovery: more than 5,000 photographs of the war. A huge frieze of life in war.
Republican, Catalanist and practicing Catholic, Campañà portrays a tragic and contradictory reality, rich in nuances, with contrasts that are often painful.
A look without contemplation and without a cause to defend. A portrait of his city and his country where nothing was left out. A therapy through the viewfinder of the camera
which would help him endure the trauma of war. A treasure that expands the horizons of the already rich photographic heritage of the country.
Extract from the Photo Talk (Catalan)
