Paying tribute to one of Spain's greatest photographers
- Text by Lua Ribeira
- Photography by Cristina Garcia Rodero/Magnum Photos
This story appears in The Documentary Photography Special VII. Get your copy now, or subscribe to make sure you never miss another issue.
When I look at the images Cristina Garcia Rodero makes, I see a synergy in our work. I believe it’s because we both like to spend time with people. We enjoy the union one creates with others through the process of photography – there’s a similar energy there. She speaks a lot about religion and the body, which are themes I’ve explored in projects like Noises In the Blood, which is about dancehall culture in the UK, and Subida al Cielo, a series on death and mortality. In our work, we are trying to express universal themes – the strength and fragility of people, the human condition, collective behaviour, passion, pain – in ways that still remain revealing.
Cristina began photographing the deep-rooted rites and traditions of small towns and villages in rural Spain when she was in her early 20s. Back then – during the ’70s and ’80s – she was one of the few artists looking at these subjects, which were at the time ignored and perceived as regressive.
When Cristina was photographing, it was at the end of Franco’s dictatorship. Spain was turning towards Europe, paying more attention to tourism and modern values. But she was going to these little places and documenting the folklore – the traditional practices, religious and pagan rituals. All of these things are extreme in their expression; they define very precisely our relationship with death, pain, power, and each other. The project ended up lasting 15 years.
The pictures make up her famed 1989 book España Oculta. My older sister, who is also a photographer, always had a copy of it at home. I remember looking at it when I was younger, feeling both excited and overwhelmed. It documented an authentic Spain – pilgrimages, carnivals, processions – I had never fully experienced. What captivated me most was the way each photograph seemed to transcend time and place to touch upon something more universal – in a theatrical kind of way.
Most of the photos also happen to be made in my region: Galicia, in Spain’s northwest. I recently visited many of the traditional events that Cristina captured all those years ago. Her images became a nostalgic guide for me to return to these places; ones that have changed a lot over the years but somehow still feel the same.
I met Cristina for the first time not long ago. I was fascinated by what she had to say – not just about photography, but about life and art. We connected because we share the same language, and also because we share ideas about what photography is, even if we use different strategies. Her advice was always to keep a strong personality: be different, do your own thing, focus on that mission and be generous.
To me, Cristina is una maestra – a master and a teacher. She was, and remains, a courageous woman that opened doors for many of us. Her relationship with Spain and Spanish culture is what makes her work extraordinary. The more I look at it, the more I see its depth; the sacrifice and the layers behind it.
© Lua Ribeira/Magnum Photos
This story appears in The Documentary Photography Special VII. Get your copy now, or subscribe to make sure you never miss another issue.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
You might like
A stark, confronting window into the global cocaine trade
Sangre Blanca — Mads Nissen’s new book is a close-up look at various stages of the drug’s journey, from production to consumption, and the violence that follows wherever it goes.
Written by: Isaac Muk
“Like skating an amphitheatre”: 50 years of the South Bank skatepark, in photos
Skate 50 — A new exhibition celebrates half a century of British skateboarding’s spiritual centre. Noah Petersons traces the Undercroft’s history and enduring presence as one of the world’s most iconic spots.
Written by: Noah Petersons
“I didn’t care if I got sacked”: Sleazenation’s Scott King in conversation with Radge’s Meg McWilliams
Radgenation — For our 20th Anniversary Issue, Huck’s editor Josh Jones sits down with the legendary art director and the founder of a new magazine from England’s northeast to talk about taking risks, crafting singular covers and disrupting the middle class dominance of the creative industries.
Written by: Josh Jones
Free-spirited, otherworldly portraits of Mexico City’s queer youth
Birds — Pieter Henket’s new collaborative photobook creates a stage for CDMX’s LGBTQ+ community to express themselves without limitations, styling themselves with wild outfits that subvert gender and tradition.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The suave style and subtle codes of gay San Francisco in the ’70s
Seminal Works — Hal Fischer’s new photobook explores the photographer’s archive, in which he documented the street fashion and culture of the city post-Gay Liberation, and pre-AIDS pandemic.
Written by: Miss Rosen
The stripped, DIY experimentalism of SHOOT zine
Zine Scene — Conceived by photographer Paul Mpagi Sepuya in the ’00s, the publication’s photos injected vulnerability into gay portraiture, and provided a window into the characters of the Brooklyn arts scene. A new photobook collates work made across its seven issues.
Written by: Miss Rosen
