Presentation
María del Palacio lives alone. As a 95-year-old widow she cannot leave her home in Madrid. She suffers from memory loss and struggles to move around independently; therefore, she is physically dependent and requires care and attention. Despite her condition, she does not have authorisation from the Community of Madrid to be urgently moved to a public care home: “She can walk on her own and eat independently,” is the justification provided by the authorities.
Just like María, thousands of elderly people suffer both mentally and physically, the consequences of the isolation they find themselves in, while their families, to whom the responsibility falls upon, are also defenceless. This is an homage to the efforts of María and all those elderly people who, at their age, are neglected by the Spanish State.
This report has been made entirely inside María’s home in Calle Ervigio, in the Carabanchel area of Madrid (Autonomous Community of Madrid, Spain). It follows her daily life and has been made with her consent. It was finished in December 2016.
Biography
Carlos de Andrés is a photojournalist and documentary reporter. With his experience, he teaches editing workshops in these specialties at the EFTI International Center for Photography; as well as courses, seminars and thematic projections in very diverse forums, being professor assigned to the Master of Photography applied by the Miguel Hernández University of Elche.
He has worked in the agencies Cover (Spain), Vu (France) and Getty Images (USA) today, as a collaborator. Also on the staff in the newspaper El Sol, El País Semanal, El Globo. As well as photography studios Stampa and El Sótano, where he has worked as a freelance photographer for all Spanish media and some of the most important in the world. His photographs are published in more than eighty photography books.
He has made personal and collective projects for publishers, advertising agencies, institutions, foundations and public and private companies; some of whose thematic works have become part of the history of photography in Spain. His photographs have been acquired and exhibited in museums, galleries and collections in Spain and in other countries such as USA, France, Brazil, Italy, United Kingdom, El Salvador and Japan.
Winner of thirty contest and scholarships with reports and projects of socially and contemporarily committed theme in which he is still immersed, such as the proposal of: “Youth. A Generation “, carried out through a personal vision and a cross-section of the most advanced and developed Spanish society in its history between 1985 and 2010; with the intention of publishing a book of photographs as an author. Recently he has published the book “The Edition in Photography”, projected as a manual of selection of the best images.
