WUHAN BEFORE WUHAN

In 2007, Fundación Azcona funded a young and brilliant photographer at the beginning of his career so that he could travel to China and capture the day-to-day life of the Chinese people, their work routines, small villages, landscapes, etc.

Miguel Ángel Jorquera grabbed his camera, travelled to China and walked and cycled around the country. The photos he sent back, his personal notes and the stories of the life he discovered fascinated us, and, as such, we continued to collaborate and support him for several years.

Jorquera stayed in China. He got married there and started a new life in a little-known city, called Wuhan.

However, in 2019 the city of Wuhan became the origin of what was to become an unprecedented pandemic. From there, a terrible virus, which would change many certainties and perspectives of safety and fragility we previously held, started to spread around the world.

Meanwhile, Jorquera continued taking photos. These are photos full of sensitivity, taken with an eye capable of capturing flashes of beauty in a setting vastly different from that he had experienced in Spain.

His photos of Wuhan have led to exhibitions, tributes, acknowledgements and praise. He has now published these photos in a very special book, a vital fantasy that we wanted to fund to close the virtuous circle of fate and opportunity, capturing us with images full of magic and beauty.