Icon, Nation, and Citizenship: Spanish Photography from the Foto Colectania Collection

 A Journey Through Images at the Cultural Center of Spain in Mexico

The Cultural Center of Spain in Mexico (CCEMx) is pleased to present "Icon, Nation, and Citizenship: Spanish Photography from the Foto Colectania Collection", an exhibition offering a deep dive into the evolution of Spanish photography from the mid-20th century to the present day. Curated by renowned art critic and researcher Carles Guerra, this exhibition, open to the public from July 19 to October 12, 2025, is a unique opportunity to explore the richness and diversity of the Spanish photographic landscape.

Beyond the Iconic Image: An Enriching Visual Dialogue

This exhibition, based on “The Course of Events” presented at Foto Colectania in early 2024, began its international tour with a successful stop at The Margulies Collection at The Warehouse in Miami under the title "Beyond the Single Image. Spanish Photography from the Foto Colectania Collection," where it was on view from November 13, 2024, to April 2, 2025. The version now arriving in Mexico, while retaining the essence of the original proposal and Carles Guerra's curation, features an adapted structure. While in Miami the exhibition was thematically organized into 20 sequences grouped into 10 blocks, the CCEMx show is structured into 22 thematic sequences distributed across 8 blocks, offering a slightly different, yet equally profound, perspective on the dialogue between the single image and photographic sequences.

The exhibition aims to make us reflect on the power of the iconic image: that photograph which often summarizes and simplifies a historical event. Through 144 images by 36 photographers from the prestigious Foto Colectania Collection, the exhibition establishes a dialogue between these emblematic photographs and series of images that expand and enrich our understanding of events.

Carles Guerra emphasizes how, in many cases, modernization has gone hand in hand with the creation of visual symbols that reduce complexity to a single recognizable image. However, the exhibition reminds us that other collective moments (demonstrations, rituals, processions) demand a multiplicity of images to capture their full richness and meaning. "These were the photographs that shaped events; although each event would have generated many more versions of what happened, only one image acquired iconic status," notes Guerra. This curatorial proposal invites viewers to explore new connections and narratives, arising from visual combinations and contrasts that open up other ways of understanding images.

A Journey Through 75 Years of Photographic History

The Foto Colectania Collection, considered one of the most important private photography collections in Spain and Portugal, spans over 75 years of history, bringing together different generations of photographers. From the "street photography" of the 1950s to the most recent contemporary artists, the collection illustrates how photography has evolved from a simple record to a tool for collaboration, critical expression, and social connection.

Among the 36 artists featured on this occasion are established talents and promising new voices in contemporary photography. You'll be able to admire the work of internationally renowned photographers such as Joan Fontcuberta, Cristina García Rodero, Alberto García-Alix, Laia Abril, Cristina de Middel, and Txema Salvans, alongside works by masters like Pilar Aymerich, Manel Armengol, Manolo Laguillo, Leopoldo Pomés, Xavier Miserachs, Ramón Masats, and Francisco Gómez.

The exhibition allows for the coexistence of recognizable photographs like "The Man in Pelayo Street" (Xavier Miserachs, 1962) with photographic series, such as the rituals documented by Jordi Esteva in Africa or the traditional representations captured by Cristina García Rodero in rural areas of the Iberian Peninsula. It also includes more recent works by artists such as Laia Abril (with her Photo-novels from the series On Abortion), Cristina de Middel (and her fictions from Afronauts), Adriana López Sanfeliu (and her sustained follow-up of Los Salazar), and Jorge Ribalta (with his series on techno music venues at the Sónar festival), alongside works by Ricard Terré, Fernando Gordillo, and the mini-series of photographs signed by Gabriel Cualladó.