A visual journey through the last four decades in Spain and Europe guided by an icon of photojournalism at the Instituto Cervantes Chicago.

Jordi Socías (Barcelona, 1945) is one of the key names in the evolution of Spanish photojournalism in the last decades. His style moves away from the objectivity deemed inherent in photography, and becomes aware of its own subjective representation.

The most important figures and events of the country’s modern history have posed for him, and together form a fascinating narrative of life since the 1970’s, when he started his career, until now.

Socías, self-taught, began his photography career by chance. After co-founding the API news agency (Agencia Popular Informativa) —which distributed the news that the Franco regime censored— he worked for Cambio 16 magazine, and subsequently for other well-known national journals, some of them no longer available.

As he was not satisfied with the way in which his photographs were being published, Socías started working as a publisher and became a reference in the profession. He headed the graphic edition of El País Semanal.

From his point of view, and pushing his deep political commitment beyond his profession, published images and texts construct together a tale that must engage the reader. His images, characteristically honest, move away from a mannerism that can be considered superfluous, though never forgetting their condition as subjective portraits of reality —a feature evidenced by his contributions to the Madrid me mata and El Europeo magazines, where he manifests his interest for surrealism and expressionism. The seventy images that make up the exhibition Maremágnum are representative of his career and illustrate the intensity of a life devoted to photography and graphic publishing.

Q&A with Jordi Socías on June 5th at 6 pm.

Venue

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312-335-1996

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