Isabel Muñoz

Isabel Muñoz was born in 1951 in Barcelona. The Spanish artist began photography by enrolling in a photography workshop at the age of 20. The fragmented body as well as the body put to the test, hold a particular place in her work. The power of movement and the aesthetic quality of almost abstract photographs of the “derviches tourneurs” show the dynamism that characterizes her work. She has received, in particular, the National Prize of Photography in Spain in 2016.

Isabel Muñoz is a photographer who stands out within the diversity of proposals that
characterize the contemporary Spanish photographic scene, betting on the technique of
platinotype and large format in order to reinforce her discourse: her passion for the body as a
way of approaching the study of the human being. This passion has marked her work since her
first photographic series, being the beginning of a journey through numerous cultures in which
the photographer seeks to capture the beauty of the human body with her camera, ranging
from traditional dances and wrestle to certain realities and issues on which Muñoz decides to
focus her gaze with an essential social commitment.

The strong presence that Isabel Muñoz has acquired within the artistic reality contemporary is
reflected in the recognition of her work through different awards and mentions, the Gold
Medal for Merit in Fine Arts 2009 and twice obtaining the World Press Photo. Noteworthy are
the National Photography Award in Spain during 2016, PHotoEspaña 2021 and her recent
designation as academician of Fine Arts at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in
2022.
Her work can be found in numerous collections, in particular those of the Maison Européenne
de la Photographie (Paris), the New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), the Foto
Colectania (Barcelona), the Cultural Center of Spain (Mexico City, Guatemala City, La Paz), the
Museo Nacional Reina Sofia (Madrid) and the Fundación Canal (Madrid).

In 1990, she began to travel with the interest of ptographing dances as a common thread. These first trips lead to many others and feed her desire to work on ethnic minorities.

Mevleví :

“Enhanced by the sensuality and delicacy of her large- and even very large-format platinum prints, Isabel Muñoz’s black and white photographs are instantly recognisable. From one series to the next, and from one journey to the next, they depict dances as diverse as tango, flamenco, classical Cuban ballet and belly dancing”.

“Between the superb nudity of the Africans and the suffering required to reach the ecstasy of the mystics, there are like two poles that attract and repel each other, this mystery of the form that the body takes, always in search of a form of pleasure”.

(Source : Christian Caujolle, “L’Oeil de la Photographie”)

Hidden Narratives :

Isabel Muñoz’s magnificent photos in the Danza Khmer (Khmer dance) series are initially striking for the beauty of the gestures, the movement of the body and the expression of sensuality, but behind these vivid images lie a multitude of levels of interpretation. Isabel Muñoz created this series of Piseth Pilika, principal dancer with the Royal Ballet, in Cambodia in 1996, 20 years after the Khmer Rouge genocide, and 3 years before Pilika was assassinated. It is not important to know all the details of the case, but the general context contributes to the narrative force.

Political, public and personal stories fuel Isabel Muñoz’s photographs, which tell of the human condition through a female perspective, such as her portraits of Congolese women, who are full of hope despite the violence and rape they have suffered, or the Locura series, which in its seriality becomes a kind of mirror of society.

(Source : Paul di Felice)