Oskar Alvarado
Where Fireflies Unfold
The majority of those born in the cities resulting from rural emigration in the 60s and 70s have a common place that unites us: our parents’ village. Deleitosa is my village.It is located in the province of Cáceres, in the region of Extremadura in Spain. Here my parents, grandparents, great grandparents and other ancestors were, going back through centuries of family genealogy. Deleitosa was the village that Eugene Smith chose to realize his photographic essay “Spanish Village” that was published in the American magazine Life on April 9, 1951.
Far from showing the perceptible appearance of Deleitosa or some of the visual references linked to what was a photographic icon of the social and economic backwardness in Spanish rural society, my gaze has some subjective nuances linked to a series of experiences, places and memories. Reminiscences that have endured as apparitions in my memory. Images that intermingle episodes that float in the collective imagination with the new realities that coexist in the village.
There is an emotional need to reflect on the territory of which we are part. To explore our identity in the echo of the places that still speak to us, or in the absence-presence of the people and beings that inhabit them. To form a visual interpretation that evokes the mystery that manifests itself in everyday rhythms, in the poetic condition that underlies the strange.
Short Bio
Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Alvarado currently resides in Barcelona where he combines his work as a Photography teacher with the production of personal works. He holds a Bachelor ́s Degree in Fine Arts of the Basque Country University, from which he received a grant to develop the photographic project Conexiones in an artist residence in Arteleku Art Center in San Sebastián. Later he moved to Barcelona to study photography and a MA on Curatorial and Cultural Practices in Art and New at Media Center d’Art i Disseny MECAD, ESDI. He was one of the winners of the Helsinki Photo Festival 2018 (Finland) and his work has been selected in different international festivals such as the Voies Off Awards in Arles (France), Solar Foto Festival in Fortaleza (Brazil) and the Addis Foto Fest in Addis Abeba (Ethiopia).
Related Links