ALBARRÁN CABRERA
Albarrán Cabrera are the photographers Anna Cabrera and Angel Albarrán who work as a duo. Their photographs investigate feelings like our experience of reality, time, or identity using photography as a tool that goes beyond the recording of memories.
In their lines of research, they wonder about nature, time and place; as well as, the possibilities the photographic medium has to “see the invisible” and how it can help us “feel the visible”. They believe photography can provide us with a wider knowledge and a better understanding of the world.
Albarrán Cabrera see their photographs as objects in their own right, focusing not only on the image itself, but also on its physical manifestation as printed copies. They personally handcraft their prints in their studio using a wide range of processes and materials either by inventing new techniques or by experimenting with established ones expanding their “photographic syntax”.
The question running like a thread throughout their work is how images trigger individual memories in the viewer. Depending on their cultural background and on their personal experience, viewers will perceive images in different ways. Albarrán Cabrera find very interesting subjects such as time, reality, existence, identity and empathy, but what they find the most fascinating is the relation between them. These relations are difficult to explain by means of words and that is why they rely on images.
«We are particularly interested in memories. Our aim is to play with viewers’ memories and to construct a representation inside their minds. We never know what the final result will be, because individuals have their own exclusive memories and have grown up in different cultures and environments. Our images are the bare bones of this mental construction.
There is a gap between reality and what we understand as real. And photography (as Japanese dramatist Chikamatsu once said about art) lies on the frontier between the real and the unreal, the true and the false. Photography helps us to ‘see’ what is hidden from us.»
Albarrán Cabrera see their photographs as objects in their own right: they personally handcraft their prints in their studio using a wide range of processes and materials.
The work of Albarrán Cabrera has been shown in Spain, Japan, Switzerland, the USA, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Lebanon, and Italy. Private collections and institutions that house their photographs include Hermès, Goetz Collection, The German Bundestag`s Art Collection, Banco de Santander and De Nederlandsche Bank among others. They have also produced photographic prints for institutions such as Fundació La Pedrera, Barcelona; Fundació Toni Catany, Mallorca; Reina Sofía Museum, Madrid; FotoColectania, Barcelona; the Photographic Archive, Barcelona. They have collaborated with publishers such as Adelphi Edizioni, Mondadori Libri, Penguin Random House, Diogenes Verlag, RM Verlag and Ediciones Atalanta as well as institutions such as La Monnaie De Munt, -Belgium`s federal opera house-.
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Exhibitions (selection)
2022
• “Playing with the Light of the Universe”, solo show, BILDHALLE, Amsterdam (NL)
• “Japan: Werner Bischof - Albarrán Cabrera”, group show, BILDHALLE, Zurich (CH)
• “As Far as the Eye can See”, solo show, Michael Hoppen Gallery at Connelly, London (UK)
•“Web of Life”, solo show, Esther Woerdehoff Galerie, Geneva (CH)
2021
• “Ocean”, group show, BILDHALLE, Zurich (CH)
• Photo Basel, group show, BILDHALLE, Amsterdam (NL)
• Unseen, group show, BILDHALLE, Amsterdam (NL)
• Photo London, group show, BILDHALLE, London (GB)
• “Albarrán Cabrera. A display of works“, solo show, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London (UK)
• “A very subtle light”, solo show, Esther Woerdehoff Gallery, Paris (FR)
• “In Praise of Shadows”, solo show, Marshall Contemporary, Los Angeles (US)
• “Pale Blue Dot”, solo show, Ibasho Gallery, Antwerp (BE)
• “Holiday Show”, group show, Nailya Alexander Gallery, New York City (US)
2020
• “Fernweh”, group exhibition, BILDHALLE, Zurich (CH)
• “An Ethereal Glow”, solo exhibition, Marshall Contemporary,
Los Angeles (US)
• “There was never a time when we didn’t exist”, solo
exhibition, Nailya Alexander Gallery, New York (US)
• “Beyond the Obvious”, group exhibition, Ira Stehmann
Fine Art, Munich (DE)
2019
• “Seaside”, group exhibition, BILDHALLE, Zurich (CH)
• “Icons”, group exhibition, BILDHALLE, Zurich (CH)
• “Someone lived this”, solo exhibition, Esther Woerdehoff Gallery, Paris
• “Subtle Shadows of Bamboo on Bamboo”, solo exhibition, Ibasho Gallery, Antwerp (BE)
• “Infinite Spirit”, group exhibition, Kahmann Gallery, Amsterdam (NL)
2018
• “Remembering the future”, solo exhibition, BILDHALLE, Zurich (CH)
• “Aspects of influence”, solo exhibition, Dada Object Trouv, Barcelona (ES)
• “L’indistruttibile”, solo exhibition, Galleria de’Foscherari, Bologna (IT)
• “Albarran-Cabrera”, solo exhibition, Nailya Alexander Gallery, New York
2017
• “Japan Contemporary”, group exhibition, Soiz Galerie, Passau (DE)
• “EXPLORATIONS - New positions in Photography and Photorealism”, group exhibition, Micheko Galerie, Munich (DE)
Collections:
• Herm s Art Collection, Paris (FR)
• Goetz Collection, Germany
• Art Collection De Nederlandsche Bank, (NL)
• Art Collection Santander Bank, (ES)
• The German Bundestag’s Art Collection, (DE)
Publications:
• 2021, “The World’s First Photobook Was Blue”, Co-Edition von Ira Stehman, den (M) éditions und IBASHO
• 2020, “Pale Blue Dot”, co-edition of the (M)ditions and IBASHO
• 2020, “Des Oiseaux”, Atelier EXB
• 2018, “Remembering the future”, RM Publisher
• 2018, “Pequeñas melodias“, IIKKI Books
Book Collaborations
• 2021, “Jeux de Mains”, by Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi & Stephen Ellcock, Chose Commune
• 2021, “The Book of Change: Images and Symbols to Inspire Revelations and Revolutions”, by Stephen Ellcock, September Publishing.
• 2019, “All Good Things: A Treasury of Images to Uplift the Spirits and Reawaken Wonder”, by Stephen Ellcock, September Publishing.
