CANDY LOPESINO | THE IBERIAN
Candy Lopesino © All rights reserved.
The Iberian Peninsula is a geographical concept formed by Spain and Portugal, two geographically united countries but separately by an invisible border.
‘THE IBERIANS’, the essay focused on my travels in these territories throughout the first two decades of the 21st century. Visually narrating the things that happen while wandering around Iberia, how to write in a sketchbook.
Knowing a specific territory gives depth and meaning to my project; that is why my work is a continuous journey through Spain and Portugal. These are places where I explore the concepts of territory, borders, light, memory, and identity through observing the other.
As Fernando Pessoa wrote:
“… Portugal and Spain, it would be said that the two countries have finally realized that a border if it separates, also unites and that if two neighboring nations are two because they are two, they can morally be almost one because they are neighbors.”
In The Iberians, I rediscover the familiar places, their people, their culture, their realities circumscribed to geography; in short, I explore the human condition of my origin.
CANDY LOPESINO
Candy Lopesino is a Spanish photographer and cinematographer born in Madrid.
“I started painting in oil. One day I discovered an old camera at home that my father bought. I started photographing my sisters. From there, I was charmed by photography and started my journey in the field.
I still remember the first time I saw the black and white image appear in the developer tank; That is when I knew that photography is my biggest love and my main attraction for a lifetime. Through my projects, I discover the world around me, know myself, and express myself. And I’m fortunate to unite two of my passions, photography and traveling.
My professional career began as a graphic reporter under the signature of Hidalgo-Lopesino photographers collaborating with the Incafo publishing house and in collaboration with UNESCO. Through my work, I created realizes articles for a collection of books, including “The Heritage of the Humanity” in Mexico, Bulgaria, Tunis, Portugal, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, France, Panama… And I still collaborate with international magazines such as GEO Spain, GEO Japan, Viajes National Geographic, Traveler, Volta ao Mundo, Saveur Magazine New York, Rutas del Mundo, Península, Descubrir, Altaïr…
Many photographers have influenced my work, including Julia Margaret Cameron, August Sander, Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier Bresson, W. Eugène Smith, and William Klein.
But one exceptional photographer and exhibition enormously influenced my work, portraits made by Edward Sheriff Curtis taken in the North American Indians. He had dedicated 30 years of his life to this project.
His work was so impressive, and the time spent on the project amazed me. This exhibition encouraged me to start my personal long-term project, THE IBERIANS, in which I have been working for the first two decades of the 21st century and continue to photograph.
Two picadors in the horse yard.
Tradition is inherited, which is part of the individual’s identity, that is transmitted from generation to generation to preserve and consolidate it.
LGTBI Pride Festival in the city center of Madrid. Every year, the great LGTBI pride festival is celebrated in the center of the city of Madrid. Spain has one of the most advanced legislation in the world on equal rights for this community. 
In summer, from the towns in the interior of the Peninsula, excursions are organized to go to the beach. Thus, these three rural women enjoy their first swim in the sea together. 
Festivities in Madrid. The mulilleros are an essential part of the Fiesta; although they are never portrayed in the foreground, that remains for the great figures. A sequence of two photographs. In the first, I photograph a group of seven mulilleros. In the second, I moved closer and framed, in the foreground, the most outgoing of the group, the timidest, behind him.
“I specialize in photography and documentary cinema without additives or artifice. For me, there is nothing more attractive than the reality itself. Knowing a specific territory gives depth and meaning to my project; that is why my work is a continuous journey through Spain and Portugal (IBERIA) and the coast that borders the Atlantic Ocean.
They are places where I explore the concepts of territory, border, light, memory, and identity through observing the other. Creating is a vital need for me.”
