Featuring: A.A., A.K., A.L., A.S., A.T., C.P.S., D.M., F.H., G.W., J.M.M., M.F.F., M.K., M.K., M.M., M.O.E., M.P., M.R.J., N.B., N.V.R., O.M., P.A., R.A., R.M., S.K.A., S.L., S.M.C., S.T., Z.T.
Amares Azielos is a collaborative photography project developed inside the young adult detention center of La Roca del Vallès (Spain) in 2023. Many young inmates are migrants, far from family or friends, and live without glass mirrors, cameras, or phones. They cannot clearly see themselves, and so their daily lives remain mostly undocumented and only in memory. In a world full of images, this invisibility becomes an additional form of punishment.
The project creates a space where inmates and volunteers make images together without knowledge of participants’ sentences. They focus on human connection rather than labels of “good” or “bad.” Through collaboration, participants explore creativity and mutual understanding.
The project uses cyanotype, a 19th-century photographic process that uses sunlight to create blue images. Objects are placed on light-sensitive paper and exposed to the sun; the covered areas stay white while the exposed areas turn blue, creating an image. Inspired by Anna Atkins, who created the first photobook in history using this technique, Amares Azielos gives participants the chance to tell their own stories.
Workshops were accompanied by exhibitions inside the prison with invited artists, as well as a publication and a video documentary, showing how collective creative processes can generate dialogue and new possibilities for the future.
Organizations
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Photoville
Founded in 2011 in Brooklyn, NY, Photoville was built on the principles of addressing cultural equity and inclusion, which we are always striving for, by ensuring that the artists we exhibit are diverse in gender, class, and race.
In pursuit of its mission, Photoville produces an annual, city-wide open air photography festival in New York City, a wide range of free educational community initiatives, and a nationwide program of public art exhibitions.
By activating public spaces, amplifying visual storytellers, and creating unique and highly innovative exhibition and programming environments, we join the cause of nurturing a new lens of representation.
Through creative partnerships with festivals, city agencies, and other nonprofit organizations, Photoville offers visual storytellers, educators, and students financial support, mentorship, and promotional & production resources, on a range of exhibition opportunities.
For more information about Photoville visit, www.photoville.com
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PhotoWings
PhotoWings believes that photography has the power to influence the world. As such, we invest in strategic collaborations and programs that help make photography better understood, created, utilized, seen and saved. We also have a rich archive with hundreds of hours of original interviews and partner presentations from both within and outside the photo world, as well as curricula, tool kits, resources and community activities. We believe that meaningful engagement with photography can foster deep thinking, communication and help people better understand and navigate the world.
PhotoWings has been a proud partner of the Eddie Adams Workshop since 2015, and of Catchlight and Photoville since 2017.
Amares Azielos
Featuring: Various Artists
Curated by: Carol Priego
Locations
View Location Details Download a detailed map of this location Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza1 Water St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
This location is part of Brooklyn Bridge Park
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The views and opinions expressed in this exhibit are those of the exhibition artists and partners and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Photoville or any other participants and partners of the Photoville Festival.
Special thanks to: M.P.M., M.B.G., X.L.G., A.R.F., N.R.L., A.P.G., H.B., J.C.M., J.R.A., X.A.V., M.M.E., A.C.P., E.J.I., J.B.R., A.S.T., A.T.R., J.A.T., A.M.P., C.C., M.M.E., and X.M.F.
Photobook made in collaboration with: BAKOOM STUDIO
Video documentary by: JUAN MIGUEL MORALES
Project made possible with the support of: Ajuntament de Terrassa, Generalitat de Catalunya and the European Union
Project initiated with: Amics de les Arts i Joventuts Musicals and La Vibria Intercultural
Recipient of the 2026 Photoville & PhotoWings Educator Exhibition Grant
