José Manuel Navia — Cervantes ou le désir de vivre

Instituto Cervantes
7, Rue Quentin Bauchart – 75008 Paris (FRANCE)
From the 7th of November 2017 to the 11th of January 2018

2017 - Paris - Cervantes ou le désir de vivre

Exhibition to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of the author of Don Quixote.

Miguel de Cervantes, the real character, often remained hidden by the chivalrous figure of the hero of his great literary creation. However, he had an extraordinary personal career that the Spanish Cultural Action (AC/E), the Cervantes Institute and the State Agency for Development Cooperation (AECID), on the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary of his death, wished to revive and underline with the hand and the glance of the photographer José Manuel Navia, who, in an equally extraordinary way, went to follow in his footsteps.

The result is a tribute to the man and his future behind the work that is displayed in this exhibition, the result of collaboration between AC/E, the Cervantes Institute and AECID, and in the book of the same title that they have jointly published with Editions Anómalas.

In this work, which is undoubtedly one of the most personal that I have done so far, I wanted to confront, without the slightest reservation, the difficult and unimaginative relationship – essential for me – that is established between image and word, photography and literature, and always on the basis of the importance that I, as a photographer, give to the idea of the brand (as opposed to the idea of the soul). In order to investigate all this, I have allowed myself the luxury of working from the life and work of one of the greatest writers, not only of Spain, but of universal literature, Miguel Cervantes. Surprises and uncertainties have assailed me relentlessly. Boldness should not be in small”.

José Manuel Navia