Paris Photo 2021

For this very special edition of ParisPhoto 2021, RocioSantaCruz displays a generational and thematically diverse curatorial proposal, but with three key concepts that spin and unite the discourse: feminism, humanism, and historical document.

On the occasion of the exhibition Fotoclubismo: Brazilian Modernist Photography, 1946-1964 at the MoMA in New York, which inaugurated on May 8th, and in which a retrospective of this artistic movement was displayed, RocioSantaCruz presents a curated selection in ParisPhoto of works by artists such as German Lorca (São Paulo, 1922) and Rubens Teixeira Scavone (1925-2007), and the more humanistic vision of Palmira Puig(Lleida, 1912-Barcelona, 1979) and Marcel Giró (Badalona, 1912 – Barcelona, 2011), with their portraits of Afro-Brazilian society in the 1950s in Sao Paulo.

Spinning with this humanist perspective, Gloria Oyarzabal (London, 1971) presents her WOMAN GO NO’GREE series, whose publication by the RM publishing house was awarded in 2020 with the prestigious Paris Photo-Aperture prize for the best European photobook. This series, that deals with issues such as identity, gender and canons of beauty, is an archaeological and anthropological document of the power of women in sub-Saharan Africa. This year, Gloria Oyarzabal is one of the female artists selected by the Ministry of Culture and Paris Photo to be part of the Elles X ParisPhoto section, organized by Nathalie Herschdorfer, director of the Musée de Locle in Switzerland.

RocioSantaCruz presents, in a world exclusive for ParisPhoto 2021, a selection of works by Colita (Barcelona, 1940), a historical photographer and portraitist of Spanish and international social and cultural life, from her series Antifemina. Antifemina, the first feminist photobook, published by Colita in 1977, portrays the situation of women in the post-war era, and was part of the exhibition Photos & books. Spain 1905-1977 of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid) in 2015.

Ouka Leele (Madrid, 1957) was one of the photographers selected to be part of Elles X ParisPhoto 2020 organized by Karolina Lewandowska, curator of the Center Pompidou. In ParisPhoto 2021 we will be able to see the complete collection of 21 large-format polaroids, 70 x 55 cm, that Ouka Leele commissioned by the Fondation Cartier in 1988. In addition, we will present some of her most iconic works, such as Hairdresser or The Kiss.

Finally, closing the artistic proposal for ParisPhoto 2021, we will present a selection of unpublished vintage photographs by Antoni Campañà (Arbúcies, 1906-Sant Cugat del Vallès, 1989). The MNAC (National Museum of Art of Catalonia) recently exhibited his famous series of photographs of the Spanish Civil War, which has recently been published in France by Seuil editions, under the title of La boîte rouge.

Download dossier
+Colita
+Antoni Campañà
+Marcel Giró
+Palmira Puig-Giró
+German Lorca
+Rubens Teixeira Scavone
+Ouka Leele
+Gloria Oyarzabal
+Miguel Rio Branco

Activity carried out with the help of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.