The documentary Javier Reyes: the artisan look, a tribute to the photographer from Haría, Javier Reyes (Haría, 1926-2024), will be exhibited at the Inocencia Páez Sociocultural Center in Caleta del Sebo tomorrow, Wednesday, at 5:30 p.m.. Admission is free and until full capacity is reached. The screening is organized by the Teguise City Council through the Department of Culture and Celebrations with the collaboration of the Cabildo of Lanzarote.
The film is a production of the Cabildo of Lanzarote dedicated to the photographer from Haría, Javier Reyes Acuña, who passed away last February at the age of 97 years old. The film is directed by Veintinueve Trece and sponsored by the Data Center department of the Island Corporation, which is directed by Councilor Ascensión Toledo.
A photographic collection of more than 16,000 images
Javier Reyes Acuña Acuña alternated for almost 30 years, between approximately 1943 and 1972, various jobs with the professional practice of photography thanks to a studio set up in his house, in the same square of his hometown. Throughout those three decades, Reyes captured the daily life of the inhabitants of the towns in the north of the island of Lanzarote and the islets of the Chinijo Archipelago, showing an unusual ability to reflect, with truthfulness, humanity and closeness, the customs, traditions and experiences of his neighbors.
The result is a photographic collection composed of more than 16,000 negatives, which makes up one of the most important legacies of the visual, cultural, artistic, historical and anthropological heritage of Lanzarote and La Graciosa. From 2013, after more than 30 years of abandonment, and thanks to the generosity of Javier Reyes and his family, the Cabildo of Lanzarote began the work of digitizing and disseminating his entire archive through the Digital Memory of Lanzarote. His complete collection can be consulted in the link Digital Memory of Lanzarote (memoriadelanzarote.com)
In addition to all this, his work has aroused the interest of historians and researchers from all over the world and his work has been exhibited in his native island on repeated occasions, as well as in others, such as Tenerife, Gran Canaria and La Palma, and outside the Archipelago, in places such as Azores (São Miguel), Cape Verde (Santiago) and Madeira (Ponta do Sol).
