Man Ray, Colita, and Maya Mercer headline the Incadaqués photography festival.

BarcelonaThe photographer Man Ray discovered Cadaqués in 1933 following an invitation from Marcel Duchamp, who was staying with a friend, the bookbinder Mary Reynolds. It was then that Duchamp suggested to Man Ray, who was already a leading figure among the Surrealists, that he photograph several modernist houses to illustrate Salvador Dalí's article. From the terrifying beauty to the edible of modern'style architecturein the magazineMinotaurMan Ray maintained his relationship with Cadaqués and spent his summers there for a decade between 1958 and 1968. And now he is one of the protagonists of the new edition of Incadaqués Photography Festival, on display until October 26. Specifically, his exhibition can be seen in the gardens of the Salvador Dalí house-museum in Portlligat, with whom he later collaborated again on works such as the painted plaster sculpture Portrait of Joella.

This year's Cadaqués program includes 28 exhibitions by 40 artists from 20 countries, in museums, galleries, and other venues throughout the city. Highlights include Txema Yeste, considered a "master of light," who is showing nearly 40 works never before seen in Spain at the Casino; Colita. Divine portraits, in the Cadaqués Museum, and Maya Mercer, by the French-American artist, at the Cadaqués gallery. Mercer is known for her blending of fiction and documentary with a cinematic aesthetic, and in the series on view at the festival, titled Worship, reconstructs the lives marked by marginalization and the shadow of the opioid crisis of a group of teenagers. Likewise, Australian photographer Lisa Sorgini presents In-passing, a series resulting from the collision of two events that marked her: the birth of her first child and the loss of her mother.

In addition to Colita's exhibition, there are two other documentary exhibitions: Were Afghan women to unveil their tales, by Italian photographer Valentina Sinis, which portrays the "subtle gestures of resistance" of Agfanese women, such as working, walking, and organizing among themselves (at the church of Santa Maria). And Gaza modo de emploi, a "preventive archaeology" project by photographer Eduardo Soteras Jalil about the details of daily life in Gaza, far from media images (at the Arte y Joya Theater).

Historical avant-gardes in the 21st century

Two of the most notable names in the program are Ukrainian artist Hanna Lautreamont (1991), whose work draws on surrealist aesthetics (at Espai Cristina), and photographer and painter Ayline Olukman, who presents works that combine photographic prints and interventions.

The festival also includes three exhibitions stemming from her creative residencies in the city: All the places and the places between, by Belgian artist Antoine de Winter (at the Patrick J. Domken gallery), and those by Cloé Harent (at the Santa Rita gallery) and Julien Mignot (in the atrium of the Santa Maria church).

Furthermore, one of the distinctive features of the festival is that it organizes underwater exhibitions in the town's bay, with the aim of creating an experience where art and nature of the marine environment converge. The three selected artists are Txema Yeste, China's Jinyong Lian, and JA Young, winner of the Open Doors Photo Prize 2025.