Fine Art nominee

Under my study, there is one of the many air-raid shelters built during the Civil War of 1936. Since I learned of its existence, I have been thinking of doing a photographic project related to that place, but I did not start it until the end of the confinement for the Covid pandemic. Inside the bunker you are isolated and you must adapt to the space and to a certain routine. I saw a certain relationship with what was happening to us and that is why it made sense that the characters who star in the stories acted as if their life in prison was quite normal. Of course, I have allowed myself certain artistic licenses, so you don't have to look for strictly realistic situations. The first thing I did was talk to professionals in the sector and propose to interpret a different story for each one inside the Bunker. The space would always be the same, but not the representations or the setting. For my part, I had to work very well with the light and the color palette so that they transmitted what I wanted to tell. Each photograph had to be like a baroque painting.

Juan Cruz Durán was born in Argentina and has lived in Barcelona since 2001. Much of his 30 years of professional experience focused on fashion photography, but he specialized in advertising and portraits. His personal work is marked by a cinematographic style. Always working in low light to create haunting images with a great plastic load. Professionally, he has worked for several countries in Europe and America. He has produced advertising campaigns for Spotify, Latin Grammy, Havaianas, Shure, Adidas, NBA, Nike, DirecTV, Fútbol Club Barcelona (FCB) among others. Over the years, he has worked for agencies and production companies around the world and for various print media. His work has been exhibited in Europe and America. In 2006 he was awarded by the AFP (Association of Professional Photographers of Spain) with two silver LUX awards for his work in the Nude and Fashion categories, and in 2010 and 2011 he received two gold awards at the Addis Advertising Awards in the United States. . In 2019 he was awarded Platinum in the Advertising category by the GRAPHIS platform. In 2020, the same platform awarded him a Silver in the Nude category.