- Artist:
- Joan-Ramon Bonet
- Date:
- 1991
- Technique:
- Harman inkjet pigment ink print on barite photo paper on dibond aluminium
- Dimensions:
- 70 x 100 cm
- Origin:
- Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma
- Registration number:
- 636
- Edition:
- 2/3
The series “Matances” (1991) certifies and reaffirms photographer Joan-Ramon Bonet’s particular predilection for choosing everyday, apparently trivial themes as the nucleus of his works. By way of an anthropological document, and sequentially, Bonet photographs the full process of the traditional slaughter of a pig held in the village of Ariany (Mallorca) in order to refer to a deep-rooted custom on Mallorca which is passed down from parents to children and is closely linked to native Mallorcan gastronomy.
The series, represented in Es Baluard’s collection through six photographs, comprises takes in Black and White and, with their clear mastery of light, they refer to the beginning of the slaughter – the free pig, before being killed – until the latter part when, at the end of the day, the women have finished making the sausages, the characteristic sobrassada, and the day is over. This is a portrayal of a tradition which lives on in Mallorcan culture, unifying work and festivity and referring to the classic documentary photographers who were interested in ethnography.
E.B.
He lives and works in Mallorca. Between 1964 and 1967, Bonet, a singer-songwriter, was a member of El setze jutges, a group that was part of the Nova Cançó movement. In the late 1960s, he left music behind to focus on photography. His relationship with the world of art has been manifested through the realization of catalogues and artists books by major figures such as Joan Miró, Josep Guinovart, Mati Klarwein, Erwin Bechtold, Mompó, Chillida and José María Sicilia. At the same time, Bonet’s particular view also delves into the depiction of everyday life, marginality, nature and the city, as in the “Marginats” (1987), “Matances” (1991) and “Patis de Palma” (2006) series.
His work has been exhibited at Casal Solleric (Palma de Mallorca, 1981, 1987 and 2008), “Sa Nostra’s Centre de Cultura (Palma de Mallorca, 1989), Centre de Cultura Contemporània (Valencia, 2010), Centro Conde Duque (Madrid, 2013), and among others, and in 2007 he was awarded the Honour Medal from the Parlament de Catalunya for his contribution to Catalan culture.
E.B.
