The photographs of Esteve Lucerón, in an exhibition at the Molí de l’Oli
This Saturday the exhibition “Esteve Lucerón. La Perona, the space and the people”. It is a photographic collection of the poblatà Esteve Lucerón (1950-2022) dedicated especially to the inhabitants of the Barcelona neighbourhood of La Perona – located in the Sant Martí district -, one of the last barracks neighbourhoods in pre-Olympic Barcelona. Sant Martí -, one of the last barracks neighbourhoods in pre-Olympic Barcelonna. The exhibition can be seen every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., until October 9. The photographic exhibition is a reply of the one that could be visited from November 2021 to May of the same year in the Barcelona Photographic Archive.
The event featured a description of the main biographical details of the photographer, by the councillor for culture, Ramon Enric Guimó, followed by a detailed analysis of the technique and the basic details of the exhibition by Jordi Calafell, historian, photographer, exhibition curator and member of the Barcelona Photographic Archive. After a few words of thanks from the mayor of Pobla de Segur, Marc Baró, a snack was served.
“El payo largo”
Lucerón, day after day, between 1980 and 1989, dedicated himself to photographing the like of La Perona, of the people who lived there. Every day I went to Perona. Shortly after, he moved to live in the neighbourhood. The gypsies of La Perona knew they were underestimated and marginalized. Little by little, with discretion and generosity, giving away the photos the took, Esteve gained the trust of the people. For the gypsies of La Perona, Esteve was affectionately known as “el payo largo”.
Since the middle of the 20th century Barcelona has suffered from a notable housing crisis mainly due to the large number of immigrants arriving from the most disadvantaged areas of Spain. In peripheral areas, shantytowns were created, such as La Perona in the district of Sant Martí (it received this name because of the visit made by Eva Duarte, wife of Argentine President Perón). Over time these immigrants were relocated to suburban commuter towns. Then La Perona was occupied by the gypsies of Somorrostro. More than 5,000 people could fit in the nearly a thousand barracks.
True to this spirit of solidarity, he wanted his work to give back to the people what is theirs, their life and their history. This led to the year 2017 giving the negatives and contacts of 2,000 photographs to the Barcelona Photographic Archive, an entity that has exhibited (from November 2021 to May 2022) the images that Esteve Lucerón made of Perona throughout the decade of the 1980s. The Department of Culture of La Pobla de Segur contacted him to bring his exhibition to La Pobla, something that he greatly appreciated and made him very happy. Unfortunately, the Esteve Lucerón died on April 25, 2022 in Barcelona.