THE SAXONS OF TRANSYLVANIA

On 17 January Ivorypress hosted a conversation between Pascual Martínez and Vincent Sáez in our bookshop. In addition to signing their new book, The Saxons of Transylvania, the photographers offered a gift they produced for the event.

The Saxons of Transylvania focuses on ethnic German Saxons returning to Transylvania to preserve their distinct heritage built over eight centuries. While these Saxon people were born in Transylvania, their identity is marred by events of war and communism when most of the population was forced out, or fled their towns and villages. Their now fading civilization is documented with a mix of archival images, new photographs, illustrations and storytelling – revealing an uncertain future for what is now a dispersed group of people.

Pascual Martínez (Murcia, 1977) and Vincent Sáez (Alicante, 1977) are two Spanish photographers working as a photography duo since 2014. They studied at the School of Art in Murcia, and combine their work as photographers with teaching, designing and curating photography exhibitions. Their focus is on human relations and the study of society through photography as a means of anthropological exploration.

In 2014 they began an artistic residency in Bucharest, Romania, working on The Tree of Life is Eternally Green. This was their first photobook, published in March 2018 with the English publisher Overlapse, and has been recognized with the ‘2018 ArtsLibris-Fundació Banc Sabadell Prize’ in Barcelona, won a nomination to ‘Unveil’d Photobook Award 2018 UK’, the ‘HP’s Inkspiration Award Of Excellence 2018, UK&Ireland Edition, and selected at Athens Photo Festival 2018. Is held in collections such as the ‘MoMA Library’ (Nueva York, USA), ‘Tate Modern Library & Archives’ (UK), ‘Yale University Library’ (USA), or the ‘École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie’ in Arlès (France). This work was selected to exhibit at PhotoEspaña Madrid 2015, and recently exhibited in Spain at Murcia, Granada, and Barcelona, internationally at Brasov (Gallery M8) and Bucharest (The Can Openhouse) in Romania, and in projections at “Kaunas Photo Festival” (Lithuania).

They have recently published their second photobook, also with Overlapse, entitled The Saxons of Transylvania, which is the second part of the trilogy they are developing in Romanian territory.

They are represented by Alalimón Gallery (Barcelona, Spain), y Saisho (Madrid, Spain).