Smoke and Mirrors

• Prize
• Photographer
  Gonzaga Manso, Spain
• Studio
  Gonzaga Manso

An ironic reflection on appearances, sensuality, and the cultural prejudices in relation
to the body and beauty.

All these photographs were taken in studio, where we built complex sceneries in order to
create the perfect places for the stories. Everything is real, everything is there.

Telling an untold story, seeing someone who is not.

Plywood walls, models in pretense laid-back poses and flashes faking the sun.

Everything is a lie, yet it finds its purpose in telling the truth.

It’s a lie which conveys. A lie that excites.



Gonzaga Manso is a 25 year old photographer and film director based in Madrid. Self-taught, he soon began working in advertising for clients like Pepsi, Smart, Sony and Movistar, as well as for agencies like Contrapunto BBDO, DDB and McCann Erickson.

Many of his campaigns have gained great recognition from the advertising industry, such as his Smart campaign, which earned him a gold award both in EL SOL FESTIVAL and AMPE AWARDS.His Terra campaign also received a silver SOL and a bronze EFFIE.

His unique sensibility and technique manipulating light have allowed him to show his skills as director of photography, working with prestigious spanish directors such as Javier Fesser and Julio Medem.

Besides his commercial works, Gonzaga is constantly developing personal projects deeply involved with his artistic vision and creative unrest.

Always searching for strong concepts, his latest stills dive into such controversial themes as catwalk's thinness and the use of burka.