Fontcuberta, Joan

b. 1955, Barcelona

   Photographer

   Fontcuberta is the standard-bearer of a new and radical understanding of the social role of the photographer. In 1977 he was co-founder of the Alabern group of Barcelona. Shortly after, he became editor-in-chief of Photovision, which he had also helped to found, and taught in the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona between 1979 and 1986. The essence of his approach is his absolute rejection of the notion that photography has a documentary role. He sees himself as an artist, on the same level as painters or sculptors. His sometimes surrealistic creations are reminiscent of the work of artists like Cindy Sherman, Jenny Holzer or Joseph Kossuth.

   See also: photography; visual arts

   MIHAIL MOLDOVEANU