The heat has reached Madrid. Overnight we swapped winter shoes for sandals. Thermometers go from 20 to 40 with incredible ease. And the cultural offer went up in the same way as temperature degrees, because Photoespana has arrived, the fifth edition of the photography festival which this year houses a total of 61 exhibitions and is taking place in different halls, galleries and museums in Madrid, with Paseo de la Castellana as the main focal point.

Miwa Yanagi, Sachiko from the series My grandmothers, 2000 © Miwa Yanagi

This year, the theme of Photoespana is “Females. Identity from the perspective of gender.” The exhibitions have been divided into two sections, the Official Section, in which the majority of the exhibitions are included and which explicitly follow the festival theme, and the Festival Off, with some exhibitions that have been included within the festival although they do not strictly adhere to the “female” theme.

Nan Goldin, Kathe in the tub, West Berlin, 1984, Courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery. © Nan Goldin

Many names can be found throughout these 61 exhibitions: Elliot Erwitt, Lilian Bassman, Elina Brotherus, Daniela Rossell… the retrospective by Nan Goldin which brings together 350 images by the artist, Helmut Newton with his individual way of portraying the female gender and which under the title of “Work” includes almost 400 photographs by the artist, amongst which his famous erotic series “Big Nudes”.

Helmut Newton, Work, Berlin 1994 © Helmut Newton

That is included, “Vision of Islam” by the Iranian photographer, Abbas, who has travelled Muslim countries to photograph the daily life of their people, “Chicas vs abuelas” (teenagers vs grandmothers) which presents the photographs of adolescents by Nobuyoshi Araki and Hellen van Meene, contrasted with the “senoras mayores” (old ladies) by Miwa Yanagi and Manabu Yamanaka, the Brazilian Beth Moyses who presents “Memorias del afecto”, where she analyses the relationship between men and women…

As well as exhibitions, the festival has parallel activities, such as the Video Exhibition performed by female artists such as Vanessa Beecroft, Georgina Starr, Pipilotti Rist…) and the Discoveries Section dedicated to the discovery of new values. There are also photography workshops which will be given this year by Nan Goldin, Susan Meiselas, Pedro Meyer and Carolee Schneemann.

One of the most successful sections is the Photomaraton. Last 27th June the streets of Madrid were full of amateurs with Polaroid cameras, the challenge to find five faces of “the female”. In addition, there are guided tours, night-time showings in the Conde Duque Cultural Centre and, finally, the PHE02 prizes.

This year, Nan Goldin has received the most important prize of the festival, the Photoespana 2002 Prize, Tanit Plana has been the winner of the Discoveries Prize for her work on old age and Paco Gomez Garcia has won the Injuve prize for photographer of the festival with a reflection on fictitious universes.

Photoespana 2002
Date: June 12th – July 14th, 2002
Place: different halls, galleries and museums in Madrid
http://www.phedigital.com