Cristina García Rodero is a documentary photographer with three decades of professional experience. She studied fine arts and for many years taught photography at the Complutense University (1983- 2007). Her early work involved researching and photographing Spanish religious and festive traditions. The result of these investigations was her award-winning España oculta (Hidden Spain), a book of great anthropological and photographic value, in which she portrayed the deep heart of Spain, so dear to Spanish literature and imagery. The key feature of her work is the way it reflects her contact with people in sensitive images, telling condensed and concentrated stories. In the great tradition of documentary photography, she is interested in unique moments and defends 'poetry and mystery, within a reality'. She has travelled extensively (to Germany, Haiti, France and Georgia, amongst many other countries), immersing herself in other cultural traditions, in search of the real lives of the local inhabitants. She has worked for Unesco and Médecins Sans Frontières in Sarajevo and elsewhere in Bosnia.
Amongst her accolades, she has won the Planeta Photography Prize (1985); the Book of the Year Award at the Arles Photography Festival (España oculta, 1989); the Eugene Smith Foundation Award (New York, 1989); First prize for art photography at the World Press Photo awards (1993); the National Photography Award (1996); and a Gold Medal for Fine Arts (2005). She has been a full member of the Magnum agency since 2009 and a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (2013). Her work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale (2001); the Círculo de Bellas Artes (Madrid, 1985); the University of Arizona (Tucson, United States, 1988); the Madrid Museum of Contemporary Art (1989); the Musée Nicéphore Niépce (Chalon-sur-Saône, France, 1989); the National Museum of Anthropology (Madrid, 1992); the Meadows Museum (Dallas, USA, 2000); the Casa de América (Madrid, 2003); and Sala Alcalá 31 (Madrid, 2008), among others.
Cristina García Rodero is a documentary photographer with three decades of professional experience. She studied fine arts and for many years taught photography at the Complutense University (1983- 2007). Her early work involved researching and photographing Spanish religious and festive traditions. The result of these investigations was her award-winning España oculta (Hidden Spain), a book of great anthropological and photographic value, in which she portrayed the deep heart of Spain, so dear to Spanish literature and imagery. The key feature of her work is the way it reflects her contact with people in sensitive images, telling condensed and concentrated stories. In the great tradition of documentary photography, she is interested in unique moments and defends 'poetry and mystery, within a reality'. She has travelled extensively (to Germany, Haiti, France and Georgia, amongst many other countries), immersing herself in other cultural traditions, in search of the real lives of the local inhabitants. She has worked for Unesco and Médecins Sans Frontières in Sarajevo and elsewhere in Bosnia.
Amongst her accolades, she has won the Planeta Photography Prize (1985); the Book of the Year Award at the Arles Photography Festival (España oculta, 1989); the Eugene Smith Foundation Award (New York, 1989); First prize for art photography at the World Press Photo awards (1993); the National Photography Award (1996); and a Gold Medal for Fine Arts (2005). She has been a full member of the Magnum agency since 2009 and a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (2013). Her work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale (2001); the Círculo de Bellas Artes (Madrid, 1985); the University of Arizona (Tucson, United States, 1988); the Madrid Museum of Contemporary Art (1989); the Musée Nicéphore Niépce (Chalon-sur-Saône, France, 1989); the National Museum of Anthropology (Madrid, 1992); the Meadows Museum (Dallas, USA, 2000); the Casa de América (Madrid, 2003); and Sala Alcalá 31 (Madrid, 2008), among others.