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 born, going back through centuries of family genealogy. Deleitosa was the village that Eugene Smith chose to realize in 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 personal memories. Reminiscences that have endured as apparitions in my memory. Images that intermingle episodes that float in my imaginary 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.
Biography
Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts at Basque Country University, a MA on Curatorial and Cultural Practices in Art and New Media at ESDI in Barcelona and a Graduate Diploma in Management, Preservation and Dissemination of Photographic Archives at Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona.
In his work, people seem to interact in intimate spaces. In bounded territories to explore our identity. Places to show our fragility. He put the focus on the moment that consciousness and unconsciousness are found, where reality and fiction blur the border and coexist in the mind in a recreation of two parallel worlds that make up our essence. His motivation is to continue exploring new emotional landscapes. Stagings of the strangeness, of the everyday life dramas hidden in suburban existence.
Alvarado’s work has been recognized in awards as Sarajevo Photography Festival, Kolga Tbilisi Photo Award, Festival Images Gibellina, OpenWalls Arles, Flow Photofest, Lucie Foundation Fine Art Scholarship, Life Framer Photography Award, Helsinki Photo Festival, Art Photo Bcn or Restart Lithuanian Photographers Association and exhibited in Fotonoviembre Atlántica Colectivas, Photo Is:rael, Verzasca Foto Festival, Addis Foto Fest, Solar Foto Festival or BFoto Festival.