The 12th International Photoimagen Festival opened at the Museo Bellapart in Santo Domingo with the exhibition El Prado en el Centro: Fotografia y Memoria.
The inaugural ceremony brought together joint efforts from the Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation, Centro León, Centro de la Imagen, Museo Bellapart, the Museo Nacional del Prado, and the Friends of the Prado Museum Foundation.
The exhibition features works by three Dominican artists, Polibio Díaz, Fausto Ortiz, and Mayra Johnson, alongside pieces by contemporary Spanish photographers across different generations. The displayed artworks draw from the collections, architecture, and public interactions at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid.
Exhibition Opening and Visitor Schedule
Public access to the show begins on Friday, August 21, in the Temporary Exhibition Room of the Museo Bellapart. Visiting hours are Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
The Museo Bellapart is a private visual arts museum located in Santo Domingo, recognized for its extensive collection of Dominican painting and sculpture. The Museo Nacional del Prado, located in Madrid, Spain, is one of the world's leading art institutions, housing landmark collections of European art.
Institutional Heritage and Artistic Vision
During the opening event, Maribel Bellapart, president of the Museo Bellapart, highlighted the institution's historic connection with photography and with Photoimagen. She said photography had once again entered their temporary exhibition space, emphasizing the museum's long standing commitment to the festival and the visual arts.
Bellapart also recalled that her father and museum founder, Juan José Bellapart, originally moved to Santo Domingo from Barcelona at the invitation of Dominican photography master Wifredo García, with whom he had maintained a childhood friendship.
Carlos Acero, artistic director of Photoimagen, described the exhibition as an opportunity to affirm the power of photography as a point of encounter between territories, institutions, and memories. He noted that the initiative formed part of an artistic residency program developed at the Prado Museum, allowing Dominican creators to engage with historic collections through contemporary creation.
Dominican Artists and Visual Narratives
The inclusion of Dominican photographers represents a major landmark for the project. According to Sara Hermann of Centro León, this marks the first time that the Friends of the Prado Museum Foundation has invited three Dominican artists to dialogue with the museum's holdings from their own contexts and visual languages.
Each artist developed an individual approach to the Prado's artistic legacy. Polibio Díaz worked by fragmenting and recomposing images tied to paintings by Francisco de Goya, creating new narratives around absence and memory.
Mayra Johnson presented a critical reading of Goya's legacy and traditional museum representations, incorporating elements of graffiti and urban space. Fausto Ortiz explored the shadows cast upon the architecture of the Prado Museum to bring forward the physical traces of those who helped construct the building.
Spanish Photographers and Program Integration
The exhibition also includes work by 12 Spanish photographers: José Manuel Ballester, Bleda y Rosa, Javier Campano, Joan Fontcuberta, Alberto García-Alix, Pierre Gonnord, Chema Madoz, Cristina de Middel, Isabel Muñoz, Aitor Ortiz, Bárbara Allende, known as Ouka Leele, Pilar Pequeño, and Javier Vallhonrat.
The project is integrated into El Prado en Nosotros, a broader cultural program that encompasses El Prado en las Calles and the artistic residency scheme. The residency allowed the Dominican creators to inhabit the Prado's collections and spaces both literally and creatively before translating that experience into a new visual narrative.
Photography Bicentennial and Festival Schedule
Through the exhibition, Photoimagen is also celebrating two centuries since French pioneer Nicéphore Niépce permanently fixed an image produced by light, a moment recognized as foundational to the history of photography.
Organized under the theme Archipiélagos Interiores, the festival will continue with additional exhibition openings through August and September. Curatorial oversight and general coordination for the Bellapart Museum exhibition were managed by a team from Centro León comprising Sara Hermann, Orlando Isaac, and Michelle Cruz.
