Surrounded by his entire family and just a few meters from his family home and the place where he had his photography studio for almost 30 years. This is how Javier Reyes Acuña Acuña (Haría, 1926) enjoyed the premiere of "Javier Reyes: the artisan gaze", a film that represents a recognition of the 97-year-old Lanzarote photographer, whose legacy has been highlighted for its cultural, artistic, historical, anthropological and sociological importance.
The La Tegala Sociocultural Center in Haría was completely full last Saturday, December 9th, when the documentary premiered in an event organized by the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Haría City Council.
"Javier Reyes: the artisan gaze" is a film sponsored by the Cabildo of Lanzarote through the Data Center, the department responsible for the historical audiovisual documentation preservation project, Digital Memory of Lanzarote. The documentary was directed by the Veintinueve Trece collective.
The film features Javier Reyes himself and members of his family, who recall what the photographer's work system was like, but also residents of Haría, Arrieta, La Graciosa and other towns in the north of the island, where Reyes developed much of his work.
In addition to all this, researchers such as the sociologist and director of the Data Center of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Miguel A. Martín Rosa; the historian Mario Ferrer, the director of the Publications Service of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María José Alonso; the professor of History of Photography at the University of La Laguna, Carmelo Vega; the historian and researcher Nona Perera; Gabriel Betancort, historian and technician in audiovisual funds of the FEDAC of Gran Canaria; as well as the photographers Luis Guirao, Lilia Ana Ramos, Rubén Acosta, Gerson Díaz or Carlos A. Schwartz, among others, also participate.
"Preserving our past and remembering where we come from"
The event was attended by the Councilor for Education and the Data Center of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Ascensión Toledo; the mayor of Haría, Alfredo Villalba; the deputy mayor of the City Council, Chaxiraxi Niz, and the Councilor for Culture, Paula Montero.
Precisely, Ascensión Toledo highlighted "the importance of the legacy left by Javier Reyes and the generosity of himself and his family, which has allowed his entire photographic collection, consisting of more than 16,000 photos, to be digitized by Digital Memory of Lanzarote and can be consulted by citizens and researchers. It is a way of preserving part of our past for new generations and that we can remember, with greater fidelity, how we lived and where we come from."
Similarly, the mayor of Haría, Alfredo Villalba, also highlighted the generosity of the Favorite Son of Haría. For Villalba, "the figure of Javier Reyes has become a benchmark, as his contribution to photography and the preservation of the history, customs, traditions and faces of the residents of Haría has been commendable." Chaxiraxi Niz stated that "Haría will always be indebted to Javier Reyes for "preserving in images the history of the municipality, with truthfulness and affection."
One of the most important audiovisual legacies of Lanzarote
Javier Reyes Acuña (Haría, 1926) dedicated himself to professional photography for nearly thirty years, between 1943 and 1972, alternating it with various sporadic jobs. He set up the studio in his house, located in the León y Castillo square, in the heart of Haría.
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 skill in reflecting, with truthfulness, humanity and closeness, the customs, traditions and experiences of his neighbors.
The result is a photographic collection consisting 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 abandoned, 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 Digital Memory of Lanzarote. His complete collection can be consulted at 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 other Canary Islands, 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).