"The Other City": Photographic exhibition at the Communication Library and General Newspaper Archives

From 3 November to 19 December, the Communication Library and General Newspaper Library is hosting the exhibition “L’altra ciutat” (“The Other City”) by photographer Vicenç Semper, lent by AFOCER (Agrupació Foto-Cine Cerdanyola-Ripollet).

In 1982, Vicenç Semper visited the settlements that had sprung up between Cerdanyola, Ripollet and Montcada i Reixac twice and photographed the people who lived there, taking intimate, dignified and respectful portraits despite the extremely harsh living conditions.

From the presentation text on the author's website:

‘When I first arrived in Cerdanyola, around 1979, one of the things that surprised me most was the shanty town on the riverbank near the motorway. I always thought I had to go and take some photos.’

One day in 1982, I made up my mind: with my Pentax, three fixed lenses and a roll of 125 ASA Ilford film, I went to see the other side of the city. It was a Saturday and the kids from the camp were playing and there were few adults around. I returned a few weeks later to finish the report. I was able to take photos, but they told me not to come back.

In its day, the other city, which had been established in the 1970s, had around 900 inhabitants, most of them from the Roma community and of Portuguese origin. Its proximity to Barcelona facilitated their way of life: buying and selling, markets, begging...

The sanitary conditions in the camp were very poor and rats were abundant. A single water source supplied all the inhabitants and there was no electricity. In winter, they kept warm by lighting fires inside their dwellings, despite the danger this posed.

The camp was cleared just before the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.”

Visit the exhibition on the ground floor of the library.