A walk through times in black and white.

To see a black and white photograph is to travel to other times and experiences.

It was a beautiful afternoon, a little hot, but not suffocating, and I knew that there was an exhibition in the city's bullring.

It wasn't Wednesday, it was Sunday, but the day was the least important thing. The exhibition is open to the public every day and the entrance is free as it belongs to the cultural centre of La Malagueta.

A few days before, I checked the opening hours and after lunch that Sunday, I ventured on a beautiful walk in the sunshine towards the bullring.

I knew it was a photo exhibition, but I didn't know what it was about and I love that because it always gives me surprises.

In the city's bullring the exhibitions of art in photography are renewed about three times a year. So there is plenty of time to go and see them. In this case this photographic exhibition will be present until January next year.

I love the architecture of this place, but not the bullfighting theme. As always I admire art and architecture that speaks of history.

On arrival large posters announced the exhibition, it cannot go unnoticed.

The photographer's name is Cristina García Rodero and the exhibition is called Hidden Spain.

On previous occasions when I have been to photography exhibitions they were not as large and wide as this one, in this case it was an endless number of photographs and some of the best.

At the entrance you can find out something about this exhibition, as on the walls there is a small detail of this woman's work. She received a grant 50 years ago and thanks to it she was able to travel from one end of Spain to the other and to all its corners to bear witness to the culture and traditions at a time when the country was silenced.

A time when one could not express oneself, when hard work and food shortages reigned. Cristina was able to capture with her camera different moments of the people who lived in many places of this wonderful country and their daily experiences. That is what I was thinking as I looked at each of these photographs.

Cristina travelled through every corner of Spain and in this way obtained a lot of artistic material and with it everything related to the people and their way of life in those historical moments.

As mentioned in some of the writings in the exhibition, and as was evident in the course of the exhibition, the series of photographs had a historical, cultural and geographical documentary feel to it.

The photographs showed field work, village life, traditions, traditional festivals and various rituals, especially religious ones, since at that time it was imperative that people were Catholic.

With her camera, Cristina captured key moments, which were not spoken of at the time, forgotten places, hidden places of a very punished Spain, and this can be seen in the faces of the people she photographed.

Her journey lasted 15 years, a long walk, wasn't it? It was 15 years travelling through these places and their people and I thought about it and I wanted to imagine what she would have felt. All this immense and wonderful work to bring us today these memories of this country and its history but seen from the point of view of the people who suffered so much.

This has been a walk inside the bullring, but at the same time a walk through the streets, the cities and the countryside of Spain, of the Spain of the 70s and 80s, seeing the faces of the people and much more than that.

A walk through the festivities, the culture, the parades, the clothes, the costumes.

A walk through the hard work under the sun in faraway places.

A walk through the religious festivals, with their particular attire, even to see how they mourned their dead, the expressions on the faces of sadness and pain. So much suffering.

One way or another on this walk I seemed to be walking among all these people, some of them sitting on a chair watching me pass by.

Faces of children, young people and adults, some of them very old where the years could be seen in the wrinkles formed by experiences, the sun and hard work. Their eyes conveyed a lot.

I believe that the photographer was able to capture in those looks many souls that were captured in these incredible shots.

It has not only been a walk through an exhibition but a walk through time, space and experiences of people who tell their lives through these images.

Thank you all very much for joining me on this Wednesday walk, even though it was a Sunday. Best wishes to all of you and see you next time.
Amonet.

All photographs are my own.