The photographer, artist, researcher, editor and independent curator Jorge Ribalta has received the National Photography Award granted by the Ministry of Culture. The jury has chosen him for “his extensive artistic, curatorial and critical career” and has especially valued “his contribution to the review of documentary photography and its historiography from artistic practice, research and thought, as well as the establishment of a consideration of the photographic fact from its political history, establishing the link of photography with labor movements, work culture and class perspective.”
Furthermore, the jury has highlighted “his international projection from the beginning of his career and his recent projects that consecrate his creative dimension, his curatorial rigor and his contribution to a kind of national and European counter-history that reviews identity as a cultural artifact.” .
Jorge Ribalta (Barcelona, 1963) held his first exhibition in Barcelona, at the end of the 80s. He later made several stays in the United States and his work was part of the exhibition New Photography 10, a selection of emerging artists organized by MoMA. His work is also part of the collection of the Reina Sofía Museum.
He has been curator of exhibitions such as Barcelona. The metropolis in the age of photography’1860-2004 (La Virreina, Barcelona, 2016) or In Spain. Photography, commissions, territories (ICO Museum, Madrid, 2021). Author of The public space of photography. Essays and interviews, Arcadia-La Virreina, Barcelona, 2018.
He has also developed a career as a cultural manager, being director of the Public Programs Department of the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) between 1999 and 2009, and as an editor of photography books. In addition, he regularly publishes articles in La Vanguardia, as well as in various media.
The award, rewarded with 30,000 euros, recognized the photographer Laia Abril in 2023.
Source: www.eldiario.es
