‘Kintsugi’, by Joan Fontcuberta

Kintsugi is a traditional Japanese technique consisting in repairing broken pieces of ceramic by lining the cracks with gold leaf. Scars are therefore not hidden but highlighted as proof of the experience.

In this exhibition, Joan Fontcuberta draws inspiration from the poetry surrounding kintsugi to present a selection of photographs from his Trauma series, taken from photographic archives from all over the world, including the National Archive of Andorra, visited by the artist in his search for damaged images: old positives or negatives, physically or chemically deteriorated, that constitute a battleground for time and memory. It is, however, in this traumatic stage that these afflicted images display their most terrible beauty.

To commemorate the exhibition, Joan Fontcuberta has also created an “artist book”, published by the Andorran Government and the prestigious publishing house RM; it will be available at the exhibition from the date of its presentation (March 31st) onwards.