José Manuel Navia

yer: Madrid

Doğmuş: 1957

Biyografi:

José Manuel Navia is a Spanish photographer, member of the VU’ agency since 1992, lives and works mainly in Madrid (Spain). Graduated from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Philosophy in 1980, José Manuel Navia turned professionally towards photography, which he has been practicing since he was 17 years old. In 1987, he left press photography and became a freelance photographer, first in the Cover agency and then in the VU’ agency. He claimed and imposed very early a singular approach of color, from which he composes his images, in a rare subtlety of shades, from deep blacks to delicate monochrome or more distinct tones. Initially focused on photojournalism, his photography became more documentary and more personal, keeping as a guiding thread a work on light and color. He has explored various territories: Spain, Portugal, Latin America as well as the Philippines, Morocco, or the Niger River, and has documented various subjects, but always related to Iberian, Hispanic or Andalusian cultures. Inhabited by the question of meaning in photography, questioning its relationship with words, literature and the arts, Jose Manuel Navia also offers photographic journeys in the company of great contemporary writers, or in the footsteps of authors he admires, from Roa Bastos to Sallinger, from García Márquez to Pessõa or from Juan Rulfo to Cervantes. 'Navia' was published by PHotoBolsillo. This book brings together reports from Navia in which the 'master' of the use of color and framing presents a humanized vision of the landscapes and peoples of the South: the Mediterranean, Africa, Latin America and any region of the world with Iberian or Latin roots. Winner of the 2015 PHotoEspaña prize for the best book of the year.