“The experience has been impressive and I can say that it is the work that has touched my heart the most,” says Juanmi Alemany when asked about his latest photo session, reflected in a solidarity calendar that the San Miguel City Council has just published. de Abona and that thrills due to its originality and its protagonists, people who face different illnesses and who the photographer from Granada has invited to participate in a trip to the past to place them under the spotlight of famous works of art.
Alemany, 49, surprises again with a sensitive look at social reality through an innovative proposal to put a face to the 12 months of 2023, portraying patients with a dozen different diseases and disorders as if they were the models that They inspired the great painters of history, whose works are currently exhibited in the best museums in the world.
To do this, he contacted a dozen non-profit associations in Tenerife, which represent groups of people with pathologies such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and cancer, among others, who were delighted with the idea. After several days of meetings with each association to document and “go with lead feet”, Alemany devised in 10 days unique creations by authors such as Goya, Velázquez, Murillo and Rembrandt with admirable precision and taking care of the smallest detail of setting, to which had the collaboration of the protagonists, who were in charge of the clothing and decorative elements. “Days before, I had given each of them a painting and I told them to find the most similar clothes they could to take the photos,” he commented.
“The experience has been incredible, I would say brutal, I was tired of always seeing the same thing on health-related calendars and I wanted to give visibility to the sick, project an image of them that was as humane as possible, that was the goal,” he explained to this newspaper the southern photographer, who underlined the predisposition and enthusiasm shown by the protagonists of the almanac: “At first they did not understand the idea well, it took them a bit to grasp it, but after giving the painting to each one, they characterized themselves and, when they began to see the results of the sessions, they were overjoyed”.
Alemany, who has accumulated numerous awards throughout his professional career, acknowledges that during the process of drawing up the calendar he has experienced situations that “put your feet on the ground” and confesses that emotion overcame him at times during the training sessions. work: “Tears fell on me at the first meeting with the Alzheimer’s patients and the children of Pequeño Valiente and also while I was taking their photos. After being with the little ones and their families, the technician and I came out crying, because the emotion is very strong”.
presentation
The calendar, a proposal from the City Council, from the Department of Health of San Miguel de Abona, was presented yesterday in the southern municipality in an act that was attended by representatives of the groups involved, among which a large part of the funds will be distributed. 3,000 copies published by the Consistory.
Both the mayor of San Miguel de Abona, Arturo González, and the mayor Rosa Albina Ramos stressed that, through this initiative, it is intended to “give visibility and recognize the work and commitment of this type of non-profit associations.” in reference to the participating organizations: Amisur, Prominsur, Afate, Apanate, Alabente, Pequeño Valiente, Down Tenerife, Asocide Canarias, Corazón y Vida, Adacea Tenerife, Ámate and Parkinson Tenerife.
