2023-05-16 06:31:01
Jordi Rovira, author of the biography of Joana Biarnés, “It won’t be easy”, was in Girona to present the book. Biarnés (1935-2018) was the country’s first photojournalist, a pioneer who overcame all the prejudices of an era
First the documentary and now the book. Why did Joana Biarnés catch him?
During the two years of making the documentary, I saw that there were a lot of things that didn’t fit. It was clear to me that, or I explained them in a book, they would never be explained.
An intense life, no doubt.
In these five years that I have taken to prepare the book, even more things have been coming out. There are people who deserve to have their story told. Joana is one of them.
There are people who deserve to have their story told. Joana is one of them
I confess that I am one of those who knew nothing about Joana Biarnés until I saw her documentary.
We made it a bit by accident. I found this retired woman, whom no one knew, who kept a lifetime’s worth of photos in boxes in her home. There was Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, Jackie Kennedy, all of Spain at the time… “But what is this?”, I thought. And we still weren’t aware that his life was a movie, we saw that later. It was the story any journalist wanted to find one day.
What did the documentary mean to you?
It changed his life. Joana began to exhibit, to receive awards, to gain recognition. It came to light. People recognized what she had done as a photographer, which she did not value.
In other words: you changed his life.
If anything, the three who made the documentary, Òscar Moreno, Xavier Baig and me. It was really seen by many people, it served to make her known. But the credit does not belong to the documentary, but to Joana.
We were not aware that his life itself was a movie, we saw that later
What was it like to be a woman and a photojournalist, in the time of Joana Biarnés?
In the beginning it was difficult for him, he had problems. But when she knew how to make herself respected, she traveled all over the world and succeeded in doing her job, in a few years when, in Spain, many women neither worked nor traveled. Seen in perspective, what he did has value beyond even the photos.
How would you describe your photography?
It’s a fresh photograph, especially considering the era we’re talking about. He took different photography. Juan Pardo explained to me that the promotional photos of his group, Los Brincos, were always taken in a studio. She said no, and took them to make them in a ruined village on the outskirts of Madrid. “It was different,” Juan Pardo told me. This difference is noticeable in all the types of photography he did.
He explained to me what his photograph was like. And what was she like?
Joana was a vital and magnetic person. We ended up inventing the term “Biarnés effect”, because anyone who knew it was as if trapped. He didn’t look like he was more than eighty years old, he was all freshness, like his photograph. And with a great sense of humor.
We ended up inventing the term “Biarnés effect”, because anyone who knew it was as if trapped
Was she considered a pioneer?
He saw it in time. At the time, he simply did what was right for him. Of course, she saw that there were no more women doing that job, but she didn’t give it any importance, she was very humble. For twenty years he left photography and set up a restaurant. Customers didn’t even know who he was, he never bragged about anything.
And that he had made friends with the famous people of an entire era.
He was not aware of the value of his work, we explained to him. And it had double value: as a photograph and as a historical Time.news.
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