Rahola Photo 2022 at the Watercolor Museum

The temporary exhibition hall of the Llançà Watercolor Museum exhibits the photography sample presented at the thirteenth edition of the Carles Rahola Awards for Local Communication. The exhibition, which is organized by the Diputació de Girona and the Demarcation of Girona of the College of Journalists of Catalonia, is made up of a total of 22 photos from a total of 42 photographic works, which were presented in the thirteenth edition of the Awards, focused on the year 2021.

Themes such as the coronavirus pandemic are still present in many of the images, but in a very different way from how they were shown to us in 2020, that is, it seems that there is a more hopeful look, freer from the fear that we threatened everyone in the first months of Covid-19. Vaccinations and more or less massive activities (albeit with restrictions) give us another perspective on life after the outbreak of the coronavirus, a vision that is a little closer to the normality we had before.

This collection of photographs also gives prominence to nature. Its impressive and overwhelming violence appears in the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano or in the fires in Empordà, we must highlight the winning image by David Borrat i Martos titled Forest fire in the Montgrí massif taken in Bellcaire d'Empordà on 22 of July 2021. According to the jury, this photograph "fascinates with its plasticity. In addition, the image reports on the natural disaster and makes clear the dimension of the human being compared to the magnitude of nature". We should also highlight some images of animals and landscapes, portraits, sports and street protests, which have just given shape to this multifaceted memory of 2021, very well told through the cameras of a total of fifteen professionals.