Photo essay: El Raval and Lavapiés

Abstract

El Raval is a neighborhood located in the old part of Barcelona. Lavapiés is located in the central region of Madrid. Both are neighborhoods known for their concentration of immigrants from various countries. The presence of immigrants in these neighborhoods represents a sample of immigration in Spain. In 2024, the presence of 642.202 immigrants was recorded, representing 14.6% of the country’s total population, indicating significant growth compared to the year 2000, when there were one million immigrants; in 1981, there were approximately 200 thousand immigrants. The autonomous communities with the highest numbers of immigrants are Catalonia and Madrid. The first photographic essay was conducted in El Raval at the end of 2018. The records in Lavapiés were made in mid-2022. The first allowed for more time to immerse oneself in the field, including conducting interviews with residents. The second was briefer, limited to photographic documentation. In any case, both essays sought to create a visual chronicle, portraying daily life in these two neighborhoods and the ways in which immigrants integrate into the urban landscape with its tensions and contradictions. This work also aims to provoke discussion about the potential of visual methods in research in Social Sciences and Humanities, especially regarding contemporary international migrations. And, more specifically, to raise the issue of photography’s contributions to thinking about ways of looking at immigrants, what is seen and what is not seen, what becomes visible and what remains invisible. In short, to what extent does this visuality reinforce imaginaries, stereotypes, and stigmas, or does it instigate the decoding and interpretation of the image representations, the indices, icons, and symbols that constitute them?