Last Thursday, February 22, the conference 'Photographic Archives of Macaronesia' took place in the José Saramago Room of the FCM, the seventh of the talks included in the 'Memory of Thursdays' cycle, a seminar organized by the Cabildo de Lanzarote through the Data Center and the Digital Memory of Lanzarote project.
The talk was given by Germán Santana (Doctor in Modern History from the ULPGC) and Filpe Bettencourt, director of the Madeira Photography Museum, and revolved around the photographic archives that exist in the four archipelagos of Azores, Madeira, Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, at the same time that there was talk and images could be seen that are part of the photographic exhibition 'The doors of Macaronesia', which was inaugurated that same day in the Yellow House.
The cycle, which has taken place every Thursday from January 11 to February 22, has been attended by the most relevant photographic and audiovisual organizations in the archipelago. The Historical Photography Archive of the Canary Islands, the Canary Islands Film Library, the General Archive of La Palma and the Audiovisual Culture Center of Gran Canaria have shown their archive and the funds they have of Lanzarote. Thus, it has been possible to see wonderful images of the island and a large number of home movies and amateur film material that from now on will be part of the archive of 'Digital Memory of Lanzarote'.
In addition, topics such as old photography of the Lanzarote carnival or innovation and creation from historical audiovisual archives have been discussed.
The councilor of the Data Center of the Island Corporation, Ascensión Toledo, described "the celebration of Memory of Thursdays as an absolute success. Success in public attendance, since most of the conferences have completed the maximum capacity of 100 places; success of the topics and issues addressed. And success for the contacts made with other archives of the Canary Islands, which will allow new collections, such as those of Pedro Siemens or Jan Blaauboer, and material from home movies and amateur cinema to be incorporated soon into the archive of 'Digital Memory of Lanzarote'", Toledo declared.
The councilor also wanted to thank all the speakers and collaborating institutions, such as the Government of the Canary Islands and the César Manrique Foundation, for their contribution to the correct development of 'Memory of Thursdays', as well as the technical and human team of the Data Center: "Without the enormous effort of all the people and organizations involved, these conferences would not have been possible," Ascensión Toledo asserted.
Postponement of the last conference
From the Data Center of the Cabildo de Lanzarote it is reported that, precisely, the eighth and last conference planned within 'Memory of Thursdays', entitled 'The image of women in the Digital Memory Archive of Lanzarote', which was to be given by the historian Arminda Arteta and was to be held this Thursday, February 29, has had to be postponed due to the speaker's medical indisposition.
There is still no new date scheduled for its celebration, but the Cabildo de Lanzarote informs that, as soon as the new date is known, it will be communicated through a press release from the institution and on the portals and social networks of Digital Memory of Lanzarote.