Photographer Anna Turbau dies at 76

BarcelonaPhotographer Anna Turbau passed away this Wednesday at the age of 76, according to a statement The Vanguard and has been able to confirm the ARA. Born in Barcelona in 1949, she began her training at the Escola Massana in the field of graphics and became interested in photography later, when she continued design at the Escola Elisava. Anna Turbau is known for having exposed what Franco's regime wanted to hide, such as the poverty and marginalization of neighborhoods like Barcelona's Raval and the social struggles in Galicia, where she moved in the mid-1970s. Among the publications where she worked are Interview, Front page and Current.

Xavier Baig and Jordi Rovira dedicated a documentary to him three years ago, in 2023 he received the Transhumant Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award for his photographic career, and a few weeks ago he made his debut at the Arco fair with the Nordés gallery. This Wednesday, The Department of Culture of the Generalitat has announced that it has acquired some photographs.

As can be read on the website of the Photographic Social Vision Foundation, which has represented her since 2023, Turbau's style is characterized by "frames of great expressive force and dynamic compositions that reflect a closeness to the subjects, not only physically but also emotionally," among which the Galas stand out. In this way, "the author takes sides and gets involved in what she is photographing, with the risks that this often entails." In this sense, "her approach to women who freely express their emotions and demands takes on special relevance."

From jazz to demonstrations to the Vigo shipyards

Anna Turbau's first exhibition was Jazz Photographs,at the Sala Aixelà (1974). A year later he changed direction and began documenting the poverty and marginalization of Barcelona's Chinatown.. It was then that he abandoned design and decided to dedicate himself professionally to photography. That same year, he traveled to Galicia to document the homes of architect César Portela in O Vao (Pontevedra), and in 1975 he settled in Santiago de Compostela, where he photographed the social and political mobilizations that arose at the end of the Franco regime and during the Transition, the construction demonstrations, the tragedy of the sinking of the ship Marbel. Also, at that same time she gave a report on the Conxo psychiatric hospital (Santiago de Compostela), which she kept hidden until 2012.

Anna Turbau's life took another turn when she was forced to leave Galicia in 1979 because of the police. Back in Barcelona, ​​she collaborated with The Newspaper of CataloniaWhen she had children, Turbau was forced to leave the profession for two years, but she still took the still photo for the filmDream of a street, from the company Els Comediants, and photographed the first Tárrega Fair with Josep Armengol,GoalIn 1985, TV3 hired her as an assistant producer on educational and cultural programs.

In addition to her work, Turbau taught photojournalism at the Grisart International School of Photography and was one of the founders of the UPIFC Image Union in the mid-1990s, but she had to retire a few years later due to health problems. However, she returned to work in 2000 on documentaries focusing on women and also began a project on the exhumation of remains of war victims in Calatañazor (Soria).