FotoNostrum Gallery launches the first issue of its fortnightly magazine, in the publisher’s letter Julio Hisch-Hardy writes :
“We opened the FotoNostrum Gallery in Barcelona on March 4, after an extensive refurbishing effort to convert it into one of the largest privately-held exhibition spaces in Europe entirely dedicated to photography. It was hard to believe that a few days later, an unprecedented situation would be affecting our businesses, our communities, our families, and our way of life. Six days after the opening, the Spanish government decided to ban all events with more than 1,000 attendees. On March 13, we closed to the public due to the coronavirus. Our group exhibition with the awardees of the 15th Julia Margaret Cameron Award and the 15th Pollux Award, scheduled to close on March 29, was kaput. Like many other museums and galleries all over the world, we closed our gallery midway through the show.
Right after closing, we started brainstorming to be creative and keep our exhibitions’ program alive and maintain contact with our vibrant community of artists and viewers. As a result, we decided on two action lines: on the one hand, we will start showing online exhibitions. Right now, you can see a show of the artists represented by the gallery. In another virtual room, an exhibition of the works of the inventory of the gallery. On the other hand, we concluded that a fortnightly online magazine was an excellent medium to maintain alive the contact with the community of photographers and collectors, as well as showcasing photography portfolios and interviews with different artists. We are committed to staying in touch with our vibrant community of photographers and collectors. FotoNostrum Magazine will be fully dedicated to the showcase of portfolios and interviews with the authors, as well as interviews with editors, publishers, and curators. We believe this initiative will help to maintain our contact with photographers and collectors during the closure of our physical space. And we think it is an excellent initiative to go on promoting fine art to the public, even after overcoming this pandemic that is affecting our daily lives. (…)
(…) This first issue #0 showcases two special invitees. Julia Fullerton-Batten, a Hasselblad Ambassador and acclaimed fine art and commercial photographer who was a winner of the Pollux Awards, and Renée Jacobs, who after being once a civil and constitutional rights lawyer in the United States is now an eminent fine art nude photographer. Renée Jacobs will be exhibiting in FotoNostrum jointly with Helmut Newton’s Private Property collection right after we’re able to reopen the gallery. Honoring Helmut Newton in his 100th Birthday Anniversary, this issue displays select images of the Private Property collection by Helmut Newton. The entire series will be exhibited in FotoNostrum Gallery as soon as we’re able to reopen it. Helmut Newton’s iconic photographs are accompanied by an extensive interview with Matthias Harder, Director, and Curator of the Helmut Newton Foundation. We are also publishing selected images and interviews of Michael Knapstein, Judith Minks, Tom Chambers, Calli McCaw, Cheraine Colette, Julia SH, Susan Onysko, Vicky Martin, Schnezana von Büdingen, Lennette Newell, and Alain Schroeder who was the winner of the World Press Photo 2018 in Sports category and was awarded twice in the World Press Photo 2020.”
Julio Hirsch-Hardy
Publisher, FotoNostrum Magazine
