Restricting memory. The account of repression and photographic purging during the Franco Regime

Abstract

In contrast to the hegemonic discourse on Spanish photographic history, practitioners of a more specialized documentary approach (outside of portraiture circles or photography studios) tend to position themselves on the margins of recollection and memory. This is even more so the more remote the geographical field of research. As a general rule, we refer to an anonymous, humble professional practice engendered by personal needs, commonly described as neglected. The desire, however, is to convey its immediate reality.

Based on these considerations, the article reflects on the professional development of photography during the Franco dictatorship. During this time, any act that might represent a counter-image of the regime symbolized a threat, and it was directly targeted by censorship and repression. Journalists, photojournalists, and independent photographers were harmed during this process. To analyze this work, we examine their professional environment in Asturias and the labor market expulsions experienced between the 1940s and 1960s. More specifically, this work is the result of an archival exfiltration of the region's censorship documentation held in the Historical Archive of Asturias, and a qualitative review of it from a social history perspective. The sample of approximately 357 labor files allows us to achieve the primary objective of understanding and exposing the socio-labor conceptualization of these "other" professionals during a complex period, as well as the professional and personal consequences of the control to which they were subjected.