I believed I could break the depth the immensity
By my grief naked without contact without echo
I lay in my prison with virgin doors
Like a sensible dead man who was able to die (…)
I went without end towards the light
Life had a body, hope spread out its sail
Sleep streamed with dreams and the night
Promised the dawn trusting eyes (…)
Paul Éluard, “Death, Love, Life”
In May 2010 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. With the first
image of this series, taken in June 2010, I initiated an arduous
project of self awareness: taking a self portrait on every
anniversary of this date.
The image appears naked, fragile, before a rough landscape that
remains the same throughout the series and which evokes Mother
Nature, solid and universal, lasting in time, but also being a place
of rebirth.
Ana Galan was born in Madrid in 1969. After receiving her degree in Economics, she completed an International MBA, which entailed studying in three different cities: Oxford, Madrid and Paris. In the last two courses, she wrote a thesis addressing "Speculation in Plastic Art".
Since 1993 she has combined her passion for photography with her profession, attending various courses in Paris and Madrid. After doing an MFA in Photography in 2009/2010 at EFTI, and after attending workshops with Pierre Gonnord, Eduardo Momene, Peter Bialobrzeski, Lynne Cohen, Matt Siber, Jose Ramon Bas, Eugenio Ampudia, Alejandro Castellote, Chema Madoz... her photography becomes more personal.
Since then she has been finalist in various competitions such as Descubrimientos PHotoEspana in 2010 and also in 2011, in Madrid, Spain, in Emergentes Encontros da Imagem in 2010 and also in 2011, in Braga, Portugal, in the Bourse du Talent Portrait 2011, Paris, France, in the Px3 Prix de la Photographie Paris, France, in the Festival Emergent at Lleida 2010, Spain, in the Grunenthal Art Prize... she has received a Third Prize in the 2011 CENTER Dealer's Choice Award (selection by Dianne Vanderlip, Curator at Gagosian Gallery) and an Honorable Mention in the 2011 CENTER Editor's Choice Award (selection by Todd James, Senior Photo Editor at National Geographic).
She has participated in several collective exhibits in France (Paris Photo, Espace Dupon at Paris, Rencontres d'Arles...), Italy (Primo Piano LivinGallery), India (Delhi Photo Festival), Spain (GetxoPhoto, FotoNoviembre, Festival Pa-ta-ta...), Malaysia (China House), Japan (Japan Media Arts Festival) and USA (CENTER Santa Fe, The Center for Fine Art Photography, United Photo Industries, Grizzly Grizzly Gallery...).
She works as the marketing director for a magazine in Madrid, and lives between Madrid and Paris.
Artist Statement.
Ana Galan reviews the portrait formula that emerged in Italy towards the end of the 15th century, which associated, in painting, busts with landscapes.
Realistic portraits that do not aim to idealize the subjects' features; they are fragments of an essence. People are reduced to busts, substituting through synthesis, the whole for the part. Figures placed in a raised position before a wide and idealized landscape.
Windows, and at the same time, mirrors. Conflict between introspection and the projection of the subject inherent to strong portraiture. Transparency or reflection?
More information at www.anagalanphoto.com
