Up around the bend
26.02. > 09.04.
Christian Lagata
Exhibition and book launch
A Ilha and XYZ Bookshop welcome young Spanish photographer Christian Lagata who will be presenting his most recent and acclaimed project "Up around the bend". Solo exhibition and book launch February 26th from 7 pm.
This event will occur simultaneously with the exhibition opening of 'Le rouge des autres est bleu', by the portuguese author João Henriques.
Up around the bend
In 1953 The United States and Spain signed an agreement of mutual defense and economic aid and they decided to build an Aero-naval Base in the municipality of Rota in Cádiz. Of the 13800 acres that constitute the town, about 6100 acres belong to the Base, and so the constant presence of a fence is drawn into the landscape of this small community: although it constitutes a physical barrier between the communities, it also lets the culture and traditions of the north Americans seep through its gaps.
In the 70s Lagata’s family moved to Rota and he was raised between these cultural and social influences.
In 2011 the author begins to observe and to look around in an effort to try to make sense out of his life and his roots.
He decides to portray the people that are a part of his reality, the places that are a part of his memories and those signals that slowly help him solve the numerous questions he has on identity and memory: this is what gives life to his project.
"There was a fence, it wasn't too high, a dull metal fence that looked like a wall on maps and was little more than a barbed-wire fence on the ground.
There was a fence, not a wall or a palisade, it wasn't there as a historical claim, but as an agreement, a transaction.
The fence, just like the wall, delimited a space, announced a shared property and protected it from intrusion, but it was a fence, it let the air go through, as well as the light.
Christian Lagata grew up around this fence, and as the curious and aligned person he is, he could not help but give in to its influence. UP AROUND THE BEND seeks to document a drift taking place not only on the map, but also in the blood." (Gonzalo Golpe)
Practical information
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Christian Lagata
Christian Lagata, Jerez de la Frontera, 1986.
Multidisciplinary artist. He lives between Madrid and Seville.
Studied photography at the EEAA, Granada and cinema at IES Nestor Almendros, Sevilla. Master in Development Projects BlankPaper, and international contemporary photography Master EFTI, Madrid.
Masterclass and workshops with authors such as Cristina Garcia Rodero, Javier Vallhonrat, Lottie Davis, Gervasio Sanchez, Daniel Canogar, Eugenio Ampudia, Xavier Ribas, Ricardo Cases, David Jimenez, Simon Norfolk, Alexander Apostle, Ignasi Aballí, María Cañas or Isidoro Valcárcel Medina, amongst others.
Co-founder Zunder Collective, curating exhibitions and cultural activities such as Photobook's Invaders, Casa del Lector, Matadero Madrid or installation Veta, with Rosell Meseguer, Fine Arts, UCM. Speaker at the conference "La vida es así, arte desde la precariedad" organized by La Trasera, Fine Arts, UCM. Art Follower SCAN, emerging photography Festival of Tarragona 2012.
Finalist FotoPres La Caixa 20º 2nd Edition Grant and selected in Programa Iniciarte 2016, Junta de Andalucía. Selected in Paraty em foco, Brazil, Encontros da Imagem, Braga, Portugal, Descubrimientos PHE 14, GuatePhoto 2015, Huéspedes del presente, curated by Marta Soul and Encontro de artistas novos V, Cidade da Cultura, Santiago by Rafael Doctor. Scholarship XII Roberto Villagraz EFTI. And selected by Jesús Micó to be part of Cuadernos de la Kursala.
The installation and the photobook, Up Around the Bend, where exhibited at Sala Kursala, Galería Cero and Línea de Costa Pinea. Published in renown media as Babelia, El País, Cultural, ABC, Telecinco, Univisión, Diario de Cádiz, Paper Journal, Elephant Magazine, L'Ascenseur Vegetable, Photobookstore, Independent Photobook or El Asombrario.
The project has also been present in specialized fairs like Rencontres d'Arles Photogrpahie, Fotobookfestival Kassel or Le photobookFest (Paris Photo).