Anna Malagrida

This retrospective of Spanish photographer Anna Malagrida presented the work of one of the most interesting artists in contemporary Spanish art.Her images embody a complete poetics of opposition between interior and exterior space, light and darkness, transparency and opaqueness, reality and representation, analyzing photography’s relationship with the contemporary world.

The exhibition

Based in Paris since 2004, Anna Malagrida (Barcelona, 1970) has used photography and video to create a personal vision. Her work is conceived around the dialectical opposition between interior and exterior, inviting viewers to enjoy an imaginative experience based on the meaning suggested by the work. Windows, showcases, veils and borders are some of the resources the artist uses to create a dialogue between different spaces and talk about duality, instability and ambiguity in contrast to what is unequivocal.

The exhibition traces Anna Malagrida’sartistic development, establishing a common thread that did not always heed chronological criteria, thus allowing the works to speak for themselves in this respect.

Interiores [Interiors], 2000-2001: The portraits in Interiors, which focused on highlighting the sensation of strangeness, showed carefully constructed scenes where the subjects’ features are illuminated by a light source that heightens their sense of isolation. The spaces, arranged in right angles, transmitted a sense of solitary confinement.

En la sombra [In The Shadow], (2005-2006): Complementing Interiors was the video projection In The Shadow, consisting of five videos filmed from the exterior of a picture window. From this vantage point, the photographer presents scenes in which actions unfold very slowly.  With this work, Malagrida completed the cycle that began with the portraits through a reflection on the gaze that goes beyond what is merely represented.

Vistas Veladas [Evening Views], 2007: In 2006, Anna Malagrida took a trip to Jordan that resulted in two complementary works: Evening Views and Dancing Woman.The strange light in the images, the result of X-rays emitted by a hotel security system that accidentally affected the film, caused the clarity of the image disappear. The inclusion of this accident in the project added a new symbolic component that makes reference to the vulnerability of the gaze, one that is fragile and fleeting.

Danza de mujer [Dancing Woman], 2007: The video Dancing Woman was recorded in the Jordanian desert. It reproduces the interior of a shelter. There a small latticework is covered by a black veil which, blown by the wind, reveals more when it is covering than when it is lifted.

Point de Vue, 2006: In Point de Vue, Anna Malagrida turned once again to the motif of the window as a frontier and a passage. However, this time she revisited a space tied to her childhood memories. The photographer methodically photographed all the windows in the common rooms at the old Club Mediterranée, a French vacation spot in Cabo de Creus where she went as a girl.

Escaparates [Showcases], 2008-2009: As in Point de Vue, the images in Showcases featured a series of windows covered in white brush strokes. In contrast to the previous series, a vision of the urban landscape instead of memory shapes the discourse.