PhotoEspaña 2003 Explores Identity and Otherness in Photography

The 2003 edition of PhotoEspaña, directed by Oliva Maria Rubio, delved into themes of identity and alterity through photography. The festival, held in Madrid from June 3 to July 3, featured both collective and solo exhibitions. Key retrospectives included Nancy Burson, Joel-Peter Witkin, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Sol LeWitt, Christine Spengler, Jaume Blassi, and Francesc Catala-Roca. Conflict photography was highlighted with Simon Norfolk's images of Afghanistan, an exhibition on the fall of the Berlin Wall to 9/11, and 'De l'autre côté' on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by Efrat Shvily, Didier Ben Loulou, Matei Glass, and Michal Rovner. Other notable solo shows included Rax Rinnekangas's saturated images from European borders, Julie Moos's portraits of black servants and white employers, Peter Granser's critique of Sun City, and Samuel Fosso's self-portraits exploring African identity. Norfolk was nominated for the Citibank Photography Prize 2003 alongside Jitka Hanzlova, Bertien Van Maanen, and Juergen Teller.