A tour of the work of Barbara Brändli, the model who became the photographer

‘Poetics of gesture, politics of movement’ is on display until September 22 at the CentroCentro space in Madrid unpublished images from the Barbara Brändli archivea Swiss photographer who settled in Venezuela and that allow us to see the vision of the one who was previously looked at and photographed, since she was a model and dancer.

The delegate of Culture in the regional government of Madrid, Marta Rivera de la Cruz, presented this Wednesday the exhibition, which is part of PHotoESPAÑA 2024. Through more than 300 selected photographs, it allows you to immerse yourself in the universe of Brändli (Schaffhousen, Switzerland, 1932-Caracas, 2011).

The exhibition is curated by Alejandro León Cannok and includes original archival materials, including documents, contact sheets, vintage photographs and drawings that are currently in the possession of the C&FE Collection.

“His interest in movement, in vitality, is one of the elements that I was most interested in capturing in the exhibition”Cannok explained about this Swiss-Venezuelan artist who worked as a photographer in Venezuela, where she won the National Photography Prize in 1994.

Divided into four rooms and a prologue or anteroom, the exhibition provides a journey through Brändli’s life from her beginnings to her work as a photographer. The first room, ‘On the other side of the camera. Bárbara Brändli and the world of modeling ‘, brings together photographs from the author’s personal archive from her time as a model.

But it also allows us to see her transition to photographer with images she took of other models in which she appears reflected in mirrors, the commissioner highlighted.

‘The job of a life. The versatility of Barbara Brändli’s photographic work is the second room, made up of images that allow us to appreciate her way of understanding documentary photography and the importance of gesture and pose.

“I have selected photographs from different contexts, dance photographs, photographs of their projects linked to the moor, to the Andes in Venezuela, photographs of designers, models, photographs of artisans”highlighted Cannok, who grouped them by theme.

In the third room, ‘Images and stories. The photobook as a documentation device in the work of Barbara Brändli’, projects such as ‘Children of the Moon’ (1974), ‘Nervous System’ (1975) -included by the British photographer Martin Parr in his selection of the best photobooks-, ‘Thus, with the Hands’ (1979) and ‘The Moors Go left alone’ (1981).

The last room, ‘Becoming history. The photographic legacy of Barbara Brändli ‘, shows books in which the work of the author is studied and that allows us to see the influence and importance of her work and her projects as a photographer who “redefined the image of the documentary photographer from hunter to story weaver“said the commissioner.