AMARES AZIELOS, 2023

“Amares Azielos is a collaborative photography project developed inside the young adult detention center of La Roca del Vallès (Spain) in 2023. Many young inmates are migrants, far from family or friends, and live without glass mirrors, cameras, or phones. They cannot clearly see themselves, and so their daily lives remain mostly undocumented and only in memory. In a world full of images, this invisibility becomes an additional form of punishment.

The project creates a space where inmates and volunteers make images together without knowledge of participants’ sentences. They focus on human connection rather than labels of “good” or “bad.” Through collaboration, participants explore creativity and mutual understanding.

The project uses cyanotype, a 19th-century photographic process that uses sunlight to create blue images. Objects are placed on light-sensitive paper and exposed to the sun; the covered areas stay white while the exposed areas turn blue, creating an image. Inspired by Anna Atkins, who created the first photobook in history using this technique, Amares Azielos gives participants the chance to tell their own stories.” - Photoville