Ayana V. Jackson, Amelio Robles: In the end he was buried in a dress to make peace with God, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim.
PhotoEspaña defends photography as a "political weapon."
In its 28th edition, the Spanish festival PhotoEspaña emphasizes the role of photography as memory, rebellion, and a tool for critical and transformative power, according to director María Santoyo. This year’s event features 103 exhibitions and 350 artists, ranging from historical figures to powerful contemporary voices like American photographer Ayana V. Jackson.
Jackson’s work, exhibited at the National Museum of Anthropology under the title Nosce Te Ipsum, confronts colonial legacies in Mexico, the U.S., and South Africa. Her images explore historical collections as tools to examine colonial gazes and photography’s role in sustaining social hierarchies. By reimagining colonial imagery, Jackson transforms photography into a medium of resistance, challenging race, gender, and class constructs, as noted by curator Marisol Rodríguez.
Excerpted text written in Spanish by Armando G. Tejeda for La Jornada.
