Isabel Muñoz (born 1951) is a Spanish photographer who lives in Madrid.

Life and work

Muñoz was born in Barcelona and grew up in the Catalonia region with a Valencian family and some ancestors of remote origin. When she was 20 years old, she moved to Madrid and started studying photography in 1979 at Photocentro. Her black and white photos are a study of people through pieces of the human body or pictures of toreros, dancers or Warriors. She uses a handmade and meticulous process called platinotype, a technique that early 19th century photographers used, which has great quality and a unique texture. Muñoz primarily uses black and white in her works, except when exploring anthropological or social issues. In such occasions, like working with drag queens and primitive tribes, she will use color. She travels the world carrying out works of architecture and addressing the issues of

child trafficking Trafficking of children is a form of human trafficking and is defined by the United Nations as the "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, and/or receipt" kidnapping of a child for the purpose of slavery, forced labour and exploitation. ...

and slavery in Southeast Asia. In Ethiopia (2005) she focused on the Tribes who decorate their bodies as a way of expression: the '' Surma'', '' Nyangaton'', ''

Hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...

'', '' Banna'', '' Bodi'', '' Mursi'', ''

Karo Karo may refer to: Ethnic groups * Karo people (East Africa), a group of tribes in East Africa * Karo people (Ethiopia), an ethnic group from Ethiopia * Karo people (Indonesia), the indigenous people of the Karo Plateau in North Sumatra Language ...

'' and ''

Nuer Nuer may refer to: * Nuer people * Nuer language The Nuer language (Thok Naath) ("people's language") is a Nilotic language of the Western Nilotic group. It is spoken by the Nuer people of South Sudan and in western Ethiopia (region of Gamb ...

''. In 2006, she visited

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

to take photos of urban tribes and produce works about violence. She worked on a project, '' Nuesto Pequeno Mundo'', to photograph children on the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. She traveled to Iran,

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, Turkey and Iraq and exhibited the work ''El amor y el éxtasis'' as part of

PHotoEspaña PHotoEspaña, the International Festival of Photography and Visual Arts of Madrid, is a photography forum that began in 1998. The Festival’s program presents work by Spanish and international image-makers. It runs an awards programme with sever ...

2010. In Mexico, she exhibited '' La Bestia'', which goes across Mexico packed with immigrants, with great risk for their lives. In 2015, she decides to look for the links of where we come from, by investigating the great apes.

Publications

*''Parade Nuptiale.'' 1992 Fata Morgana. With an essay by

Gérard Macé Gérard Macé (born Paris, 4 December 1946) is a French poet, essayist, translator and photographer. He published his first book ''Le jardin des langues'' in 1974 and since then has published nearly 50 books. His work is noted for its mixing of di ...

. *''María Ilusión.'' Plume, 1995. *''Rome Efemer.'' Gallimard, 1997. *''Figures Sans Visages.'' Fata Morgana, 1997. With an essay by Macé. *''Rome, l'invention du Barroque.'' Marva, 1997. With an essay by Macé. *''Isabel Muñoz.'' La Fábrica, 2000. With an essay by Christian Caujolle *''Obras Maestras.'' La Fábrica, 2010. With an essay by Caujolle

Prizes

*Medalla de Oro en la Bienal de Alejandría, 1999 *2nd Prize in "The Arts Stories" World Press Photo 43rd Edition for "Chinese Martial Arts Training" *3rd Prize "Portraits Stories" World Press Photo 48th Edition for "The Surma people of Ethiopia" *World Press Photo International award, 1999 *World Press Photo International award, 2004 *Community Photography Prize Madrid, 2006 *

Prize, 2009 * Medal of Merit of the Fine Arts, 2009 * National Photography Prize, 2016

Solo exhibitions

*''Isabel Muñoz'',

Mougins Center of Photography The Mougins Center of Photography (Centre de Photographie de Mougins) is a photography gallery located in the village of Mougins, in the Alpes-Maritimes department, France. It opened in July 2021. The building was previously home to the , which ...

, Mougins, France, 2021

References

External links

*
Biografía en gallego

Elipsis Gallery, Istanbul
1951 births Living people Spanish photographers Spanish women photographers 20th-century Spanish photographers 20th-century women photographers 21st-century photographers 21st-century women photographers {{Europe-photographer-stub