As part of the 42nd edition of the Cordoba Guitar Festival, from June 29 to July 16, 2023, the Plaza de las Tendillas in Córdoba hosted the photographic exhibition ‘Visual Approach to the Guitar’ VII. The project -which saw the light in 1992 and celebrated its seventh edition on this occasion- is considered, today, as one of the most relevant events produced in recent decades in Spain, being the only photographic collection created around this instrument that exists in the world.

Curated by José Gálvez and after more than 10 years without being made, the exhibition has brought together the work of four renowned Spanish photographers. José Lara Cordobés (Córdoba), Pilar García Merino (Madrid), Marisa Vadillo (Córdoba) and José María Mellado (Almería), who are the authors invited to this exhibition to present their personal and artistic vision on the guitar, through six works made by each of them.

This year the project also had the collaboration of the Cordoba Photographic Association (Afoco), and after six calls that have led to the existence of a collection of more than 150 works protected in the Municipal Archive of the city, adds the production of these important photographers who have proposed a very peculiar look on the guitar, from the relationship between music and photographic language.

From a personal vision, with different styles and aesthetics, each of them has given life to works that allow us to investigate the history, past, relevance and transcendence of this instrument in the Spanish context, as well as the symbolic value it holds today.

“The guitar and my land” has been the premise that has guided the photographer José María Mellado to give life to the pieces that have been part of the exhibition. The photographs pay tribute to Almeria, its land and its great tradition and imprint on the history of the Spanish guitar; A tradition that as well raises survives to this day.

 

 

As José María Mellado expresses in the text written about the exhibition “(…) for this project I have used two very special guitars: a Gerundina, from the workshop of Gerundino Jr., and of course, a replica of “La Invincible” built by Joaquín Pierre. (…) My land, which has seen the birth of these famous guitars, is sun and sea, also bare rock, caves that are homes, and the mine. And that’s how I wanted to represent this instrument that I’ve been enchanted by since I was 12 years old, when I waited anxiously for the next day I played class with Richoly.”

 

 

From the dreamlike photographs of Pilar García Merino, the series of José Lara, the requiem of Marisa Vadillo to the realistic photographs of José María Mellado, compositions have been given life in which the guitar is the only and authentic protagonist to speak of an imprint that survives to this day. This is, therefore, a unique project in the world. With which, being retaken has meant recovering a legacy very important that as all those involved have highlighted, it is the only existing collection in Spain dedicated entirely to the guitar.