French-born, Madrid-based photographer Pierre Gonnord (born 1963) has
spent a great deal of time among the gypsy communities of Spain,
particularly those in Seville and Perpignan. "In such a strong and
marked community, it is hard to arrive and take pictures immediately,"
he observes, and after an extended period of acclimatization, Gonnord
was accepted by his subjects and permitted to photograph them. "The
people I met were extraordinary. There was a real exchange, in silence,
trust and intimacy." Deeply painterly, Gonnord's photographs draw on the
Spanish tradition of portraiture established by Ribera and Velázquez,
cloaking their subjects in dark, sober backdrops and bathing their
features in a light that draws out every expressive crease and wrinkle
with dignity rather than intrusive scrutiny. This volume gathers
Gonnord's widely exhibited gypsy series for the first time.