These photographs are part of a larger body of work that looks at how life is lived on the streets in the Spanish isthmus city of Cádiz. I visited Cádiz eight times to photograph there. It is a place with a rich and important history and it is known to be one of Spain's most liberal cities. It is also one of the most densely populated places in Europe. I discovered an intimate approach to daily life in Cádiz as the people escape their cramped homes to live their life out on the streets, and to celebrate the important various annual festivals that take place in the city. I found a sincere openness in the Gaditanos (as the people of Cádiz are called) and they welcomed me with my camera into their culture. As I walked the labyrinth of narrow streets, the scenes I encountered often appeared like stage sets on which the fleeting quiet moments of daily life were acted out. To me it was these quiet moments that captured the true sensibilities of this ancient city, and this is what I tried to photograph.
In this time of the Coronavirus pandemic, these photographs perhaps now take on an even greater meaning: the rich intimate Cádiz street life that they celebrate may perhaps never return to what it once was. And at the same time, the freedom to openly and intimately photograph on the streets like I did in Cádiz may soon become a lost way of making pictures.
