Delmi Álvarez

Delmi Alvarez
Indochina, 1993
Born Delmi Alvarez
1958 (age 59–60)
Vigo, Galiza
Nationality Galician
Known for Photojournalism
Notable work Documentary photography
Website www.delmialvarez.com

Delmi Álvarez (born 1958)[1] is a Galician photojournalist. Alvarez' interests include documentary of social affairs, migration, environment, human rights and visual ethnography & anthropology. He began his professional career in 1983 in the middle of social worker conflicts and documenting Vigo and Galicia. In 1990, he lived in La Habana till 1991, documenting the life of Cubans in the '"Periodo especial en tiempos de paz".

Photography career

Delmi Alvarez documented between 1990 and 1991 the life of the Cubans during Plan Especial en Periodo de Paz, in a project: Cuba, el ultimo bastion: la lucha de un pueblo. For this photo essay, he received the FOTOPRESS award in Barcelona.

In 1989, he began a long term project about Camino de Santiago involving 13 photographers. They created a documentary exploring the ancient pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela with an exhibition running from Copenhagen to Japan or São Paulo, sponsored by the Galician government.

He covered the conflict in Yugoslavia (1991–1993). He published a book on the fighting and aftermath (Reporteiro de guerra en Iugoslavia).[2]

He was a guest lecturer and speaker in universities and schools, discussing the importance of visual story telling, documentary photography and photojournalism[3]

He wrote several books and one long term project Galegos na Diáspora, 1989-2009 about Galicians who migrated around the world. He gave presentations at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, in 2009 and at the City University of New York (CUNY). [4] Delmi organized and curated several projects of photography with international photographers and others in cooperation with Ian Berry and Richard Kalvar.

Entrevista en identidades y diásporas From 2003 to 2011 he moved to Latvia working as photojournalist and writer in newspaper Diena.

In 2012 his project Photo Youth started in Riga, Pskov, Vyborg and St. Petersburg for young people with special needs. The project got a grant from European Union to be developed between 2012 and 2013 with Russia and Latvia as partners participating more than 250 children with disabilities, blind, deaf, schools and teachers. In 2015, there are many children of PhotoYouth that follow photographing, and some of them are interested to become professionals. Delmi got inspiration to write this project when he began to visit and photographing a school for blind and impaired children in Jugla (Riga).

As a filmmaker Delmi produced four broadcast documentaries from an ethnographic and anthropological perspective stories of life of persons living in the Galician diaspora in Africa, Venezuela and Russia based in the book Galegos na Diáspora 1989-2009.

Two more documentary films projects, one about Himbas filmed in the north of Namibia, a country that he loves to travel and another about scientific galicians living in Stockholm, Paris, Koln and Alabama. This both documentaries stopped to filmed when the galician government changed in 2009. [5]

He is based between Brussels, Latvia and Spain working as documentary and editorial photojournalist.

In 2013, Delmi began a long term documentary photographic project about gold mining in Europe called "In the name of Gold."

In 2016 he released the long term documentary project "Transmigrants" (2003-2016) about refugees in Greece, Belgium, France and Latvia.

In 2014, he began a degree in Anthropology.

In 2017 he covers, as independent documentary photographer, the referendum of 1 de Octubre in Catalunya, the general strike of October 3, the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia corresponding to the formation of its XII legislature were held on Thursday, December 21, 2017, also the unionists demonstration on October 9, during which extreme right-wing groups made apology for franquismo and fascism, exercising hatred, fear and violence in different parts of the course, attacking people and journalists.

In 2018 he began a long term visual anthropology and documentary project about the Hambacher Forst, a forest in Northwestern Renanian-Westfalia in Germany threatened to be destroyed by the RWE mining company in its expansion of the coal open-pit mine near the millenary forest. Since 2012 environmental activists have occupied or lived in the forest building houses in the tree-tops. In September 2018 they were forcibly evicted by the police using repressive and not clear methodology. The workers of RWE mining company supported by police razed and destroyed all tree-top houses and the debris (including the activists' personal belongings) remains outdoors, without presumably serving as police evidence. Also the media had been claimed for the press of freedom in this case. A judicial claim brought by a German environmental conservation group has stopped the eviction judicially by the moment, under the pretext of the scientific study of a specie of bat Bechstein's bat (Myotis bechsteinii) unique in the area. The activists ask for the cessation of the activity of the mine due to the great contamination generated by the coal as fuel of the thermal power plants. Many villages affected by mining expansion have been destroyed by forced expropriation and rebuilt in other areas. The villages that still remain to be expropriated no longer have neighbors and look like ghostly places without people. Germany is the country of the European Union with the most such centers and that contribute negatively to climate change.

Bibliography

  • Galegos na Diáspora 1989-2009: Journeys around the world in all continentes looking for galicians in the emigration.
  • Reporteiro de Guerra en Yugoslavia 1991-1993: Chronicles and essay about the war in former Yugoslavia.
  • Mar: Collective book with Ian Berry, Richard Kalvar and Xulio Villarino about the galician sea, fishermen and industry.
  • Camino de Santiago: A long term documentary project about the ancient pilgrim way to Santiago de Compostela.
  • In the name of Gold: a photo essay about the gold mega mining in Europe using cyanide. Rumania, Greece, Galicia.
  • Transmigrants: Long term documentary about movements of migrations to Europe.

Documentary films

  • O rei galego de África: A galician businessman living in Namibia. Broadcast and co-produced by TVG (Television de Galicia)
  • Galegos en Rusia: The story of two galicians in the city of Krasnodar. Broadcast and co-produced by TVG (Television de Galicia)
  • Os galegos da Guaiana: The stories of 4 galicians living in the jungle of Venezuela. Broadcast and co-produced by TVG (Television de Galicia)
  • Fuga de Cerebros: The stories of four couples scientifics emigrated living in Stockholm, Alabama, París and Koln.
  • Himbas, struggle to survive: Etnographic documentary about of Himba people from Namibia.
  • Europa paradise of broken dreams: Documentary about the immigration to Europe filmed in Greece.

References

  1. ↑ "Delmi Álvarez, un reporteiro que tamén da conferencias" (in Galician). Xornal de Galicia. 23 August 2001. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16.
  2. ↑ Franco, Fernando (26 November 2009). "Diario local del fotógrafo global".
  3. ↑ Ortega, Ana. "Cámaras, testigos de una guerra". Trabajando con el peligro. blogspot. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  4. ↑ Caborian, Unknown author. "Entrevista Delmi Álvarez". Caborian. Caborian. Retrieved 5 June 2006.
  5. ↑ Penelas, Sandra (12 August 2009). "Retrato colectivo de gallegos olvidados". La Opinión Coruña.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.