Quote:"I tried to photograph the mysterious, true and magical soul of popular Spain in all its passion, love, humor, tenderness, rage, pain, in all its truth; and the fullest and most intense moments in the lives of these characters as simple as they are irresistible, with all their inner strength, as a personal challenge that gave me strength and understanding and in which I invested all my heart."

Cristina Garcia Rodero joined Magnum Photos as in 2005 and became an Associate in 2007.
Spanish, b. 1949

Cristina García Rodero was born in Puertollano, Spain. She studied painting at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Madrid, before taking up photography. She then qualified as a teacher and worked full-time in education. For the next 16 years, she also dedicated her time to researching and photographing popular and traditional festivities - religious and pagan - principally in Spain but also across Mediterranean Europe. This project culminated in her book Espa?a Oculta published in 1989, which won the "Book of the Year Award" at the Arles Festival of Photography.

The same year, García Rodero also won the prestigious W. Eugene Smith Foundation Prize. The documentary and ethnological value of her work is considerable, but the esthetic quality of her photography makes it more than a simple visual record.

In recent years, García Rodero has traveled around the world in search of other cultures with particular traditions. Over a period of four years, she went several times to Haiti, where she has documented voodoo rituals, producing a series of expressive portraits and moving scenes flanked by engaging documentary observations. Rituals in Haiti was shown for the first time in the 2001 Venice Biennale.

Cristina García Rodero has received many prizes, including the Premio Nacional de Fotografía in 1996 in Spain. Her work has been widely published and exhibited internationally. She has published several books and has been a member of the agency Vu for more than 15 years. Garcia Rodero joined Magnum in 2005.

Awards

2001 Image Award, Spanish Geographic Award, Spain
1996 Premio Nacional de Fotografía, Spain
1989 W. Eugene Smith Award, USA
1989 Book of the Year Award, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie,
Arles, France

Exhibitions

2006 Cristina Garcia Rodero - Vu' La Galerie, Paris, France
2004 La Peregrinación de Santiago en Haití - Museo de las Peregrinaciones, Santiago de
Compostela, Spain
2004 Das Mystische Spanien - Deutsche Gesellschaft für christliche Kunst, Munich,
Germany
2003 Espa?a Oculta - Instituto Cervantes, Manchester, UK
2003 Americas - Casa de América, Madrid, Spain
2002 Aquaria - Galeria Juana de Aizpuru, Madrid, Spain
2001 Rituals in Haiti - Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

Books

2000 Cristina Garcia Rodero, Photobolsillo, Spain
1994 Festivals & Rituals of Spain, Harry N. Abrams, USA
1992 Europa: El Sur (exhibition catalogue), Consorcio para la Organizacion de Madrid,
Spain
1990 Espana Oculta: Public Celebrations in Spain, 1974-1989, Smithsonian Institution
Press, USA
1988 Jewish Roots in Spain, Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana, Spain