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Snapshots of the final year in the life of Carmen Amaya

From the 8th of May until the 7th of July, the Virreina Centre de la Imatge will play host to the exhibition “Carmen Amaya 1963. Photographs by Colita and Julio Ubiña”

 

Legendary flamenco dancer and singer, Carmen Amaya, made her stage debut at a very young age, before she had enrolled in any academy. A gypsy by birth, Amaya learned to dance in the streets of the Somorrostro district, and it was precisely there where she returned in 1963 to star in the film Los Tarantos, by Francesc Rovira-Veleta, an innovative, musical version either of Romeo and Juliet translated to a gypsy setting, or of Lorca’s Blood Wedding. Once the film was finished she left for Begur with her husband, where she died of a kidney infection on the 19th of November of the same year.
 
The exhibition Carmen Amaya 1963. Photographs by Colita and Julio Ubiña pays tribute to La Capitana, as she was known, through a series of photographs by the two mentioned photographers which portray the experiences and dances of the last year of her life and include her arrival at Barcelona airport from one of her many international performances, in this case Mexico, to her final appearances along the Costa Brava, during the filming of Los Tarantos and during her final performance in the Palau de la Música.
 
The photographs displayed in the exhibition are a blend of photojournalism and pure portrait photography with the enhanced expressivity of the characteristic aesthetic of 1960s photography. They can be seen up until the 7th of July.

 

Publication date: Tuesday, 07 May 2013
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