BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Navia (Madrid,
1957)
Photographer. A degree in Philosophy in 1980.
My work as a reporter is giving rise to a more personal and delayed photograph,
always in color and in the field of documentary. My images are nourished by a
deeply Iberian root and explore territories and people linked in one way or
another to my origins and my culture. I am obsessed with the power of meaning
of photography and its relationship with literature, with words.
In 2018 a new, completely renewed edition of the Navia monograph in the PHotoBolsillo collection is presented.
In 2017 I published the book Castilla, with a text by Miguel
Delibes. And Salzillo. La vida en torno, book and exhibition produced by the
Salzillo and Los Molinos del Río museums, of Murcia.
During the years 2014-2015 I have been working fully in the exhibition and the
book Miguel
de Cervantes o el deseo de vivir (Miguel de Cervantes or the Wish to Live),
(AC/E, Instituto Cervantes and Ediciones Anómalas). In 2016-17 this exhibition
has traveled through Spain, Brazil and different countries in Europe and North
Africa.
Nostos
(book published at the end of 2013 and exhibition at PhotoEspaña 2014 and
itinerant) continues my most personal line of work, which began with Pisadas
sonámbulas: lusofonías (2001, second edition 2008).
In addition to different press media (member of the Vu agency, Paris, since
1992), other books and exhibitions give an account of my work:
Cuenca
en la mirada, 2014; Luz y
Sombra, 2014; Un Madrid literario, 2009; Ciudades
Patrimonio de la Humanidad (World Heritage Cities), 2008; Antonio
Machado, miradas, 2007; La creciente, 2006; Viaje
a la Historia (Journey to History), 2005; Territorios del Quijote
(Territories of Don Quixote), 2004; Marruecos, fragmentos de lo cotidiano,
2003; Desde la catedral, 2003; Navia (PHotoBolsillo) 2001.
And some books and collective exhibitions: Vu'15
ans, Viaje a Madrid, Saharauis, sólo el desierto, Diez miradas (Ten Views), 100 fotógrafos españoles (100 Spanish Photographers),
Visiones de Marruecos, Agence VU'galerie, Photo by Photo, Diccionario
de fotógrafos españoles.
CURRICULUM
José Manuel Navia
Madrid, 1957.
I earned a degree in Philosophy
from the Autonomous University of Madrid (1980). I studied with the anthropologist
Julio Caro Baroja in 1991. I married Carmen Martín in 1979, in 1980 our son
Miguel was born.
Photographer since I was 17 years old.
My work as a reporter was giving rise to a more personal and delayed
photograph, always in color and in the field of documentary. My images are
nourished by a deeply Iberian root and explore territories and people linked in
one way or another to my culture. I am obsessed with the power of meaning of
photography and its relationship with literature, with words.
Books and individual exhibitions:
- Navia,
2017. New, completely renewed edition of the monograph of the PHotoBolsillo
collection of La Fábrica, with a prologue by Julio Llamazares.
- Castilla
(Castile), 2017. Photo essay on the text by Miguel Delibes Viejas historias de Castilla la Vieja, edited by Ken, Pamplona.
-Salzillo. La vida en torno
(Salzillo. The Life Around) 2017. Book and exhibition produced by the Salzillo
and Los Molinos del Río museums in Murcia, with a text by Gustavo Martín Garzo.
- Miguel
de Cervantes o el deseo de vivir (Miguel de Cervantes or the Wish to Live).
Book co-edited by AC/E, Instituto Cervantes and Ediciones Anómalas.
Madrid-Barcelona 2015. A subjective view to the places present in the life and work of
Cervantes. Exhibition at the Instituto Cervantes in Madrid (December 2015 to
May 2016) and itinerant in 2016 and 2017. Through Spain: Avilés, Almagro,
Málaga, Granada, Guadalajara, Barcelona, Ciudad Real, etc. Two other
itinerant versions abroad: Brazil, Sarajevo, Naples, Tirana, Palermo,
Bratislava, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Tunisia, Algeria, Paris, etc.
- Nostos. Book published by Ediciones Anómalas, Barcelona,
2013. Exhibition at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, within PHotoEspaña
Festival. June-September 2014.
This work is a meditation on the journey as a metaphor of life, and continues
my most personal line of work, which began with Pisadas sonámbulas and which also includes under way works on
Morocco, Latin America or the interior lands, among others.
- Cuenca en la mirada
(Cuenca in the Eye). Book published by the Diputación de Cuenca and Ediciones
Anómalas, within the collection of photography books directed by Publio López
Mondéjar. Foreword by Gustavo Martín Garzo. Cuenca, 2014. Exhibition at the
Fundación Antonio Pérez, Cuenca, September-October 2014, and itinerant.
- Luz
y sombra (Light and Shadow), 2014. Edited by Mauricio d'Ors for the
Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla, within its collection of author
photography books Imágenes de La Maestranza.
- Un Madrid literario (A
Literary Madrid) published by Lunwerg, Barcelona, 2009. Text by Caballero
Bonald. Exhibition at the Museum of the City, Madrid, (April-September 2009).
Collection acquired by the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art of Madrid.
- New edition of Pisadas
sonámbulas: lusofonías (Somnambulant Footprints: Lusophonies). La
Fábrica, Madrid, 2008. Book on the territories of the Portuguese language.
Exhibition at the V Encuentros de Fotografía de Gijón (Photography Meetings)
2008, and at the Mirartephoto festival in Guadalajara 2011, among others.
- Ciudades Patrimonio de la
Humanidad (World Heritage Cities), published by La Fábrica, Madrid,
2008. Foreword by Gustavo Martín Garzo. Traveling exhibition in the thirteen
Spanish cities until 2010. And from 2011 to 2014 through the network of
Cervantes Institutes (Krakow, Moscow, New Delhi, Tunis, Istanbul, Palermo,
Naples, Rome).
- Antonio Machado. Miradas
(Antonio Machado. Views) published by Caja Duero, Salamanca, 2007. Text by Ian
Gibson.
- La Creciente (The Flood),
exhibition with the Centre de Fotografía Documental (Documentary Photography Center)
of Barcelona in the Jaume Fuster Library, in 2006, about literary territories
in Latin America. Travelling to Paris (Bobigny) in 2017.
- Viaje a la Historia. España en
tres mil años (Journey to History. Spain in Three Thousand Years),
published by Lunwerg, Barcelona, 2005. Text by J. E. Ruiz-Domènec,
- Territorios del Quijote (Territories
of Don Quixote), published by Lunwerg, Barcelona, 2004. Texts by Julio
Llamazares, González Cuenca, Martín de Riquer and Carlos Alvar. Exhibition at
the National Library of Madrid, 2005; Alcalá de Henares, 2005; Centro Português
de Fotografia, Porto 2005; and itinerant with the Cervantes Institute and
SEACEX through different cities in Europe, Africa and Latin America between
2005 and 2007.
- Marruecos, fragmentos de lo
cotidiano (Morocco, Fragments of Everyday Life), is an under way work since
1991, which was initially published by the magazine Altaïr / Grup 62,
Barcelona, 2003. Traveling exhibition: Cartagena, 2009; art fair Estampa,
Madrid, 2012, etc.
- Desde la catedral (From
the Cathedral), published by the Foundation Cathedral of Santa María de
Vitoria. Exhibition at the Artium museum in Vitoria in 2003, and traveling to
Valencia and Lisbon in 2004.
- La soledad y el deseo (Loneliness
and desire), small format book and exhibition in Valencia, 2002.
- Pisadas sonámbulas: lusofonías
(Somnambulant Footprints:
Lusophonies), book fruit of my work in Portugal and the countries of the
Portuguese language, La Fábrica, 2001. Exhibition in PhotoEspaña Festival (at
the Botanical Garden) Madrid, 2001; Irún, 2006; Autonomous University, Madrid,
2006.
- Navia, monograph from the
PHotoBolsillo collection, La Fábrica, 2001. Prologue by Julio Llamazares: The
Tin of Quince Jelly. Exhibition in the Photogalería of Madrid the same year,
and itinerant.
- Hacer
fotos: un lenguaje (Taking Photos: a Language). ICCE, Madrid, 1978. My
first book, published when I was 20 years old, deals with some theoretical and
practical aspects of the use of photography in education, an area in which I
worked at that time.
Some books and collective exhibitions:
- Diccionario de Fotógrafos Españoles
(Dictionary of Spanish Photographers), published by La Fábrica, Madrid, 2013.
- Photo
by Photo. A portrait of Spain. SEEI, 2010, book-catalog for the
Shanghai Expo 2010 and itinerant for different countries in Asia and Africa.
- Visiones
de Marruecos (Views of Morocco). Published by SEACEX / Lunwerg, 2006
and exhibition at the Fundación Tres Culturas, Seville, 2006, and touring
through six cities in Morocco in 2007.
- Agence
VU 'galerie. Book edited by Robert Delpire for the Photo Poche
collection, Paris, 2006, and exhibition at the Vu Gallery in Paris, 2006, and
itinerant.
- 100
fotógrafos españoles (100 Spanish Photographers). Book edited by Rosa
Olivares (EXIT). Madrid, 2005.
- España, diez miradas
(Spain, Ten Views). Published
by SEEI / Lunwerg, Barcelona, 2005 and exhibition at the Tokyo
Metropolitan Museum of Photography (on the occasion of the 2005 Aichi Expo),
and traveling through different cities (2005-2008).
- Un viaje a Madrid (A Trip
to Madrid). T Ediciones, Madrid, 2004, and exhibition at the Municipal Museum
of Contemporary Art in Madrid in the same year. Work directed by Mauricio
d'Ors.
- Saharauis, sólo el desierto
(The Sahrawis, Only the Desert). 2004. Book and exhibition based on work with
six other photographers in the Sahrawi camps in Algeria.
- Vu '15 ans. Ed. La
Martinière, Paris, 2002 and traveling exhibition in Europe.
- Una
geografía. Ocho viajes andaluces (A geography. Eight Andalusian Trips),
published by the José Manuel Lara Foundation, Seville, 2002. And an itinerant
exhibition in Andalusia.
- Galicia a pé de foto (Galicia at the foot of the photo). Book published by
Lunwerg and the UIMP, Barcelona, 1987.
I worked in editorial photography
between my 17 and 30 years and I am a freelance photographer since 1987, first
as a member of the Cover agency and since 1992 as a member of the Vu agency (Paris).
I regularly publish in the main Spanish and foreign media. I have maintained a
close relationship with "El País Semanal" since 1992 (where I also
worked as a picture editor in 1995-96).
Some awards: Fotopress 1987 Award (and by categories in 1989, 90, 91), La Caixa
Foundation. Society of Newspaper Design Awards, USA (as photographer and picture
editor), in 1994, 1995 and 1997. Godó Award for Photojournalism 1999 (Conde de Barcelona Foundation / La
Vanguardia newspaper). Image Award 2006 of the Spanish Geographical
Society.
Different collections house my work, such as: Municipal Museum of Contemporary
Art of Madrid, Collection of the Community of Madrid, Marugame Hirai Museum of
Japan, collection of the Alcobendas City Council, collection of the Santa María
Cathedral Foundation of Vitoria, and La Galería de La Fábrica, Madrid.
Teamwork with Carmen Martín Eizaguirre and Marta Martín Emaldi.