Project commisioned by Casa Árabe.
The project NOSOTROS: A COLLECTIVE ALBUM FROM LAVAPIÉS NEIGHBORHOOD entails constructing a collective album of compiled photographs and short stories from the residents of Lavapiés (Madrid). Directed by photographer Juan Valbuena, the project offers an approach to this multicultural neighborhood in Madrid, using only amateur photographs (in any support, from sepia to digital, from paper prints to cell phone images) belonging to the family albums and personal archives of neighbors from all nationalities (from Spain to Senegal, Mexico to China, Italy to Bangladesh).
The book NOSOTROS: A COLLECTIVE ALBUM FROM LAVAPIÉS NEIGHBORHOOD, edited by Juan Valbuena, evokes a family album with a contemporary spin. It brings together 115 images from the NOSOTROS project, most of them on a 1:1 scale, and contains a subtle thematic order. The book likewise includes 115 stories associated with the photographs, told by the residents of Lavapiés neighborhood (Madrid).
The exhibition NOSOTROS: A COLLECTIVE ALBUM FROM LAVAPIÉS NEIGHBORHOOD, curated by Juan Valbuena, was held in Casa Árabe (Madrid) from April 2 to May 3, 2009. The exhibition NOSOTROS offered an approximate chronological tour through the history of the neighborhood and its inhabitants, and delved deeper into the relationship between human beings and images—from glass display cases with original albums to screenings of everyday videos created with cell phones.