Gijón/Xixón, 1991
Álvaro Trabanco
There are many definitions that can be attributed to the term “art”, but here we will take the one that signifies what identifies us. Every social or collective group needs to be defined through some signs. A common past, a material reflection or a symbology is enough to build a story. In the case of Álvaro Trabanco (Gijón / Xixón, 1991), the search for his identity is closely linked to his geographical migrations. This made this young artist build his own story through the relationship he has created between photography and his most subjective views. Graduated in Graphic Design from the Higher School of Art of Asturias and the School of Art and Design of Caldas da Rainha, he has completed his Masters in Communication Design and New Media at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon.
2010 was the beginning of his interest in capturing landscapes and the events that have grown to configure the way of seeing and perceiving his own life. Since then, Álvaro Trabanco didn’t stop freezing his own visual experiences but has also documented customs and practices of those places that have become his home. The frames, rigorously calculated and aesthetically accurate, are always accompanied by a look that transcends the first effect. In these works, with one foot in Gijón/Xixón and other in Lisbon, Trabanco already shows the influences of great photographic references of the second half of the 20th century. Landscapes and projects that document changes, cities whose color masterfully combines with light and movements, and scenes of imposing beauty, refer to artists such as Ambroise Tezenas, Erns Hass or Andrew Moore.
In 2018 the artist finished a research project where he consolidated his way of doing conscious conceptualization. With, Tras los pasos, Álvaro Trabanco narrated the migratory experiences of his relatives to link them with his own experience during the last six years in Portugal. In all this time Álvaro has developed his photographs far from his country of origin, which has led him to participate effectively and consequently within the psychological, social and family realities in the search for personal identity. Without neglecting the aesthetics, the techniques were a decisive factor in which it merged traditional media, the digital world and photojournalism.
