"photography is simultaneously an investigation of reality and the means of investigating that reality.... photography is not a looking at or a looking through but a looking with."
- Lyle Rexer
Albarrán Cabrera are the photographers Anna Cabrera (b. 1969, Sevilla) and Angel Albarrán (b. 1969, Barcelona) who have worked together as a collaborative duo based in Barcelona since 1996. Their fruitful and enduring collaboration is founded on a shared fascination with photography, and the diverse range of processes, materials and effect which the medium encompasses.
The question running like a thread throughout their work is how images trigger individual memories in the viewer. Depending on their social and cultural backgrounds and on their personal experience, viewers will perceive images in completely different ways. Albarrán Cabrera are interested in subjects such as time, reality, existence, identity and empathy, but what they find the most fascinating is the relation between them. These relations are difficult to explain by means of words and that is why they rely on images.
Albarrán Cabrera see their photographs as objects in their own right: they personally handcraft their prints using a wide range of processes and materials.
Their work has been shown in galleries and photo fairs in Spain, Japan, Switzerland, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Lebanon, Italy and the United States and is held in private collectors and institutions such as Hermès, Goetz Collection, Banco de Santander, Fundación de Ferrocarriles Españoles among others. They have also produced work for several institutions like Fundació La Pedrera in Barcelona, Fundació Toni Catany in Mallorca, Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid and Barcelona Photographic Archive.
“WE ARE PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN MEMORIES. OUR AIM IS TO PLAY WITH VIEWERS’ MEMORIES AND TO CONSTRUCT A REPRESENTATION INSIDE THEIR MINDS. WE NEVER KNOW WHAT THE FINAL RESULT WILL BE, BECAUSE INDIVIDUALS HAVE THEIR OWN EXCLUSIVE MEMORIES AND HAVE GROWN UP IN DIFFERENT CULTURES AND ENVIRONMENTS. OUR IMAGES ARE THE BARE BONES OF THIS MENTAL CONSTRUCTION."
