Iconic poster and photographic images from the archive on exhibition in Madrid

A selection of some of SAHA’s most iconic and evocative posters and photographic images form part of an exhibition Not Yet. On the Reinvention of Documentary and the Critique of Modernism, 1968-1989 / Aún no. sobre la reinvención del documental y la crítica del modernismo, 1968-1989. Organised by one of Spain’s most important contemporary art museums, the Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid and curated by Jorge Ribalta, the exhibition runs from February to July 2015 in conjunction with PHotoEspaña 2015, an international festival of photography and visual arts.

“These materials are extremely important in the exhibition and I’m sure we are offering you an excellent context for your important and unique collection”, says curator Jorge Ribalta of SAHA’s contribution.

Different perspectives around the debates on photographic documentary from the 1970s and 1980s are explored in the four-part exhibition. Aurora Rabanal, exhibition coordinator explains: “The exhibition is a contribution to a political history of the documentary idea in photography, understood as the result of a dialectics between social avant-garde and artistic avant-garde. The exhibition re-maps the geography of the documentary debate beyond the Anglo-American scene and tries to demonstrate simultaneity of practices in different European, North and South America and South-African scenarios”. The exhibition includes photography and printed formats such as magazines, books, posters, ephemera, as well as film and video work.

Part two of the exhibition examines documentary practices linked with various social and political struggles. It is in this section that the poster and photographic images from the SAHA Poster collection (AL2446) and the SAHA Original Photograph collection (AL2547) find their contextual home. South African so-called “struggle photography or “resistance documentary” in the form of photographer Peter Magubane’s images of the Soweto Uprising (also known as June 16), and a selection of related posters are exhibited alongside Joris Ivens and Marceline Loridan-Ivens’ documentary film of Vietnam and the critical photojournalism of Susan Meiselas in Nicaragua.

Currently underway at the Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, exhibitions coordinator Fernando López confirms that “the exhibition is having a very good reception and we are grateful for your essential collaboration on it”.

See inventory for the SAHA Poster collection (AL2446)

See inventory for the SAHA Original Photograph collection (AL2547)

Visit SAHA's Exhibitions page