VASANTHA YOGANANTHAN, GRENOBLE, 1985
A self-taught photographer.
To a French mother and a Sri-Lankan father. While creating his first series Piémanson (2009-2013), realised that good photography is linked to the passing of time. Yogananthan co-founded the publishing house Chose Commune to publish Piémanson in 2014. He then moved onto the seven-book project A Myth of Two Souls (2013-2021) to explore the space between reality and fiction inspired by the epic Indian tale The Ramayana. In 2023, Yogananthan’ series Mystery Street, created in New Orleans, was exhibited at the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation (Paris) and at the International Center of Photography (New York). In 2024, his latest series Le Passé Composé was exhibited at The Rencontres d’Arles.
IG: @VYOGANANTHAN
JUANJO JUSTÍCIA (TORRE CARDELA, 1978)
With a degree in Advertising and Public Relations and a Master’s in Editorial Design (IED Madrid), he worked as a creative director in communications agencies until founding the studio underbau in 2008.
Notable projects include the complete rebranding of the National Orchestra and Choir of Spain, designing catalogs for several cultural institutions across the country, designing the last seven volumes of Matador magazine, and creating some of the most significant photobooks of recent years, including La Gravetat del Lloc by Israel Ariño, which won the Best Photobook award at the IED Design Awards 2018.
Books designed by underbau have been selected at various festivals and competitions (ParisPhoto, Les Rencontres d’Arles, PhotoEspaña, Moscow Foto Awards, Felifa, Tokyo TDC, Landskrona Photo, among others).
IG: @UNDERBAU | @JUANJOOOM
MARIELA SANCARI (BUENOS AIRES, 1976)
Self-taught artist. Advocates for thinking and practice outside hegemonic training and validation circuits. Lives and works between Mexico City and Barcelona. She lives and works between Mexico City and Barcelona.
She was the winner of the VI National Biennial of Visual Arts Yucatán 2013 and the PHotoEspaña Discoveries Award in 2014. Her work has been selected by the XVI Photography Biennial at the Centro de la Imagen in Mexico and received an Honorable Mention at the XI Monterrey FEMSA Biennial and in the Official Selection of Artemergente, Monterrey National Biennial 2012, among others.
Her first book, Moisés (La Fábrica, 2015), was selected by several curators and specialists as one of the best photobooks of 2015. In 2017, she published her second book in collaboration with writer Adolfo Córdova: Mr. & Dr. (This Book is True). In 2021, she published El caballo de dos cabezas. Representación en diez actos (Asunción Casa Editora), an exploration of the transition from still to performative image.
She is the founder of FOLIO, the public photobook collection at the Centro de la Imagen, Government of Mexico.
IG: @MARIELA.SANCARI
CAN GRAPES
Can Grapes is a Barcelona-based collective that works in the field of zines dedicated to visual art, as well as their publication. Created in 2020 by photographers Ana Benavent, Arnau Sidera, and graphic designer Gerard Soler, its purpose is to freely explore the creation, editing, and distribution of this type of publication.
IG: @CANGRAPES.FANZINES
ALEX LLOVET (BARCELONA, 1974)
He studied humanities, film, and photography at IEFC, where he now works as a professor. Llovet has published seven photobooks and exhibited in numerous countries.
Currently, he is developing personal photographic projects characterized by a desire to build a poetic and conceptual discourse, where the ordinary is elevated to reveal truths beyond appearances, thus questioning the boundaries between reality and fiction.
His awards include the POY Latam and Arts Libris, as well as finalist honors in the Lucie Photobook Prize and PhotoEspaña (all for best photobook); an honorable mention in Nexofoto; finalist in Voies Off Arles; and winner of LensCulture Critics’ Choice and Life Framer.
Alex Llovet is the co-founder of Ediciones Posibles, a publishing house specializing in photobooks.
IG: @ALEXLLOVET
LAIA SERRA CRIBILLERS (BARCELONA, 1999)
Visual Artist.
She studied Photography and Audiovisual Media at IDEP Barcelona. In 2022, she won the publication grant from the Can Basté Photography Forum, and in 2023, she published her first photobook, Untitled Folder, with Handshake publishing. This work won the Eloi Gimeno Award for Best Photobook from Art Libris, Fotocolectania, and Friends of Eloi Gimeno. Recently, she participated in Plan(t)form 2024 at the Fotomuseum Winterthur and is currently an artist-in-residence at Negra Mosca.
Her projects develop through photographic appropriation, exploring the re-signification of archive images through recontextualization and juxtaposition. This process allows her to create new narratives that question the truthfulness of images and the discourse they convey.
IG: @DAIASERRA
DAIASERRA.CARGO.SITE
ÓSCAR LÓPEZ (BARCELONA, 1961)
A journalist specializing in cultural topics.
In recent years, the world of books has been an essential part of his work, developed across television, radio, and print media.
On television, he was part of the founding team of the program Continuará on Spain’s TVE Channel 2. He hosted the book segment on La Columna on TV3 for four years and directed and hosted the program Más Libros on Barcelona Television, which covered the Year of Books and Reading. On the same network, he co-hosted the late-night magazín show Betrópolis with Judith Mascó, and directed and hosted the cultural and gastronomy program Plato Combinado.
On radio, he has presented and collaborated on programs with Cadena Ser, Catalunya Ràdio, Onda Cero, Ola Catalana, RAC 1, and COM Radio.
In print, he has contributed to Qué Leer magazine, where he was a founding team member, as well as to Tiempo, Ajoblanco, Man, and Mercurio; he has also written for newspapers such as La Vanguardia and El Periódico.
For the past 18 years, he has directed and hosted Página Dos, a TVE book program that has won numerous awards.
MONTSE PUIG (BLANES, 1965)
Editor.
She holds a degree in History from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She studied Photography at the Institut d’Estudis Fotográfics de Catalunya and furthered her education through various workshops with photographers such as Eduardo Momeñe, José Manuel Navia, and Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, among others.
Her professional experience has always been directly or indirectly connected to photography. For five years, she collaborated with the Image Department of the National Archive of Catalonia, where she also designed and managed the photography lab.
Always fascinated by books, and after working for 13 years at a major publishing house (RBA), she founded Ediciones Anómalas in 2012, a publishing company dedicated to photography.
IG: @EDICIONESANOMALAS
IRENE DE MENDOZA (BARCELONA, 1978)
Artistic Director of the Foto Colectania Foundation.
Holds a degree in Humanities from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. In 2006, she earned a Diploma of Advanced Studies and Research Proficiency in Aesthetics and Art Theory from Pompeu Fabra University.
She has curated numerous exhibitions, including Albarrán Cabrera. The Indestructible (2023), Marcelo Brodsky. Poetic Resistance (2023), La Movida, Chronicle of an Agitation (2019), Weegee by Weegee, Photobook Phenomenon (2017), The Temptation to Exist (2015) featuring photographers Christer Strömholm and Anders Petersen; Photobooks. Here and Now (2014); as well as several exhibitions showcasing the Foto Colectania collection, such as Manel Armengol. Transitions (2014) and Joan Colom. Album (2011).
SILVIA OMEDES (BARCELONA, 1971)
She has directed the Photographic Social Vision Foundation in Barcelona since 2001.
Holding a degree in Fine Arts from The New School for Social Research in New York and a master’s in management functions from ESADE, Sílvia Omedes (Barcelona, 1971) is a cultural manager, independent curator, photographers’ agent, editor, and documentary photography teacher.
She has worked at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, at the Center for Contemporary Culture in Barcelona, and for the World Press Photo Foundation in Amsterdam as the Secretary of the Jury for the competition in its 2018 edition.
Since 2014, she has been a member of the expert committee promoting the National Photography Plan of the Government of Catalonia, and since 2021, she has been a member of the Photography and Image Center Platform.
CRISTINA BOSCH (CORBERA DE LLOBREGAT, 1978)
Graduated in Information and Documentation from the Universitat de Barcelona and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Master’s in Digital Content Management from the Universitat de Barcelona and Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Since 2008, she has been a documentalist at the Institut d’Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya.
RAÚL HIDALGO (BARCELONA, 1979)
Visual artist (photography and video).
He has been published in fashion magazines and various art publications. He has held several exhibitions, and his work is included in the permanent collection of XCèntric (CCCB).
His project, Desde el silencio (From the Silence), is part of the National Photography Collection of Catalonia.
He has also worked on several curatorial projects.
JULIÁN BARÓN (CASTELLÓN, 1978)
Is a photographer, teacher and promoter of projects that use the image as a social tool for thinking. His initial training in Industrial Engineering led him to work as a quality manager, although he quit his job to join the Blank Paper photography collective in Madrid. Between 2008 and 2015, he directed and taught at Blank Paper School in Valencia, Castellón and online.
In approaching his projects, he has always had the desire to propose perspectives capable of contributing to weakening the rigid collective imagination and questioning the official discourses that construct memory, history and identity through images. Through projects such as C.E.N.S.U.R.A., Dossier Humint, Tauromaquia, Los últimos días vistos del rey., Visual Regime, Régimen Desborde, Memorial, El laberinto mágico, O Desengaño o Niños de nadie, he has explored various formats such as photobooks, films, installations and other media, using the image as a vehicle to transmit experiences and generate reflection.
In recent years, Barón has delved into the creation and coordination of projects, workshops and think tanks, adopting an educational, procedural and collaborative approach. These includeHorizon, El trigo: alimentación colectiva, imagenred.org, La Jaula, Contrataller, Volumen Visual, The Cage, Carpetas, Ser libro, Jinquer parece casi una pregunta, Malpaís, Adolescenciamóvil and many others.
He is currently a professor of Photography in the Cinematography Degree at the Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya and of the workshop Contar con imágenes in the Photography Classroom of the Sociocultural Activities Service of the Universitat Jaume I de Castellón. His most recent educational project is Fotoliber, an online school that integrates photography, experimentation and visual narrative through courses, live sessions and a virtual library of photobooks.