Brieven uit Spanje /Cartas de España

2020, Breda, , The Netherlands
in collaboration with Elena Prado

Research period June-July.
From August the 1st to September 20th, 2020 exhibition and live archive.

In March 2020, I was invited by Witte Rook and Stedelijk Museum Breda to participate in a residency. Due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, I began an online residency in collaboration with Elena Prado, a friend of mine who lives in the Netherlands. I could not travel, so our collaboration became an epistolary one. The idea was to focus the investigation on the presence of Spanish workers in Breda and their invisibility in official archives. We conducted a two-month investigation of the Spanish community that has been established in West Brabant since the early 1960s. We presented the results of our investigation at Next (Stedelijk Museum Breda) as a living archive that changed and expanded every week.

A large number of Spanish workers arrived in the Netherlands in 1961, following an agreement between the Dutch and Spanish governments under the Franco regime. Until 1971, Spanish workers were the largest immigrant group in the Netherlands. Their arrival brought about social developments related to immigration and family law, among other things. However, information in national and local archives is scarce.

Spaniards also settled in Breda to work in factories such as Etna and Hero. We approached the Spanish community in the city to initiate a dialogue about the underlying problems of the Spanish migratory flow. The hand of the information found—images, objects, and personal stories—brings this forgotten history to light.

Issues that existed at that time, such as citizenship, identity, and minorities, remain relevant today.

Thanks to all the providers and the contributions of the Spanish community, especially Carmen Herrera and María Muñoz (Instituto Cervantes).

This project was made possible with the support of the Living Lab Internationalization Province of North Brabant.