We talked in the lecture about the disappearance of the sort of photo studios visited by Martin Parr in his ongoing project of having a portrait taken in all of the places he visits. I mentioned that they were still very common in rural Spain, with even the smallest towns having two or three. Most are housed in single fronted shops and use the windows to display photos which are still to be collected by customers, so there is a constantly changing window display. Most photos are commemorative shots to mark events. Formal wedding portraits, childrens birthdays, baptisms, communions etc etc. But some just for special events. The following photo was shot last month and shows the window of one of my local shops in Huescar featuring a large, (maybe 30x40cm), souvenir photo of a child and his Christmas present, a first bike. At the time I was struck by the difference in the current prevalent mentality between the UK and smalltown Spain. Put a picture like this in a UK window and lots of people would have a field day with sly and off colour comments. Myself, and the people I was with all found ourselves giggling, and of course the smartphone pic was taken because of the, to our eyes, slightly ‘uncomfortable’ nature of the image, but in Spain it’s simply a photo of a loved child with a toy.
Click to enlarge
Stuart Hyde Interrogating Identity 