NEW VIEWS ON THE PORTRAIT AT MATADERO MADRID

Matadero Madrid welcomes this Thursday, June 2 at 9pm, as part of PHotoEspaña 2011, three exhibitions three completely different approaches to the subject of portraiture, from just as many artists —Carlos Rodríguez-Méndez, Susana de Sousa and the micropoet Ajo,—whose careers have been built almost completely outside of the realm of photography.   Made up of nothing more than the mugshots attached to the police records of political prisoners of the Portuguese dictatorship and using their oral statements, 48 is the moving documentary film by Susana de Sousa Dias, the judges' honorary mention at Punto de Vista 2011, best documentary at MARFICI 2011, Cinema du Réel (París) 2010 and It’s All True (São Paulo) 2010, which can be seen in the Nave 16.  It is an historical portrait of Salazar's Portuguese dictatorship, the longest of its kind in 20th century Europe- 48 years- that calls on our collective memory to demand recognition for those who suffered through it, the prisoners whose portraits we see here.   Another more pleasant look at a different era, also made up of pictures of its protagonists is Bello Público, the collection of photographs by the micropoet Ajo.  It consists of more than 1,2000 photographs that make one smile and reflect in detail the cultural climate of Madrid at the turn of the century- the 20th century, and the beginning of the 21st- all of which were taken from withing the box office at the Alfil theatre.  This is where Ajo worked was employed during those years: a place that has seen everyone, from the last iconic figures of la Movida madrileña to young artists who would later make waves, in the first decade of the current century.  Maybe not everyone, but almost.   The artist Carlos Rodríguez-Méndez, in turn, presents Seated men, an installation with looping video featuring old men recorded from above as they make an indescribable sound.  These are pictures that question the idea of what a portrait is, and what identity means: intensely emotional and physical material.   Thursday, June 2, 9pm, opening at Matadero Madrid.