275 pesetas

Late 1980s I photographed university classmates on the street for a low price to use in documents, rigid patterns imposed for portraits couldn't mask our concerns after Franco regimen: feminism, sexual freedom, anti-militarism, and cultural revolution.

275 pesetas is a personal chronicle of the years in which the photos were taken, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, at various faculty entrances at the Complutense University of Madrid, we were a group of photographers, the portraits were done in the morning, framed to passport size in the lab, afterwards, and delivered to the students the next day, 16 photos for 275 pesetas (€1.65). They were used on course sheets and ID cards.

In photography courses and meetings I've attended in recent years, this unique archive of over 1,000 portraits triggers interest. I was aware its value and I´ve scanned it, also researching what was happening in those years. My current perspective led me to see how in our country, after the dictatorship and in a young democracy, a new reality emerged, one in which feminism, sexual freedom, anti-militarism, and the cultural revolution were making their way. Our country was opening to the world, where new winds were also blowing.

The project contextualizes and divides the archive of portraits into topics of interest, drawing on photos from my archive, testimonies, and photos donated by a pacifism movement in Madrid. I try to reflect on what some of us experienced during those years, to provoke reflection and rewrite what has come down to us from those years in a relatable and truthful way. The approach try a new documentary storytelling, close to my interests about how social and natural changes affect human beings and society.