But in a photobook, is there really only room for photographs? Sometimes the complexity of the subjects we deal with demands more than images alone. Texts, reports, personal archives or press clippings can all help build a puzzle that allows us to research difficult topics and tell those stories in greater depth.
Although photography is usually defined as the construction of images of the visible, material world, we often use it to evoke the opposite: the ethereal, emotions and sensations that resist a single, clear definition. And sometimes the book, despite its linear structure, can help us do just that. In this episode we’ll look at how…
Featuring: David Jiménez (photographer), Laia Abril (photographer, National Photography Prize 2023) and Joan Fontcuberta (photographer, National Photography Prize 1998 and National Essay Prize 2011).
Photos & Books: Stories of a Scopic Drive
The first podcast on photobooks in Spain
Written and hosted by Nieves Limón and Marta Martín
Produced by Fiebre Photobook
Recorded at La República Independiente de la Radio
Actividad subvencionada por @culturagob
Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU
Nieves Limón
Nieves Limón is Associate Professor of Foundations of Photography and Audiovisual Formats at the Faculty of Communication of the University of Castilla-La Mancha. Her teaching and research have focused on the theory and analysis of the photographic image for more than a decade. She also cultivates a continued interest in documentary audiovisual practices. She was awarded the Extraordinary Doctorate Prize for her PhD thesis, “Photographic Self-Representation Strategies. The Case of Frida Kahlo” (2014), and has published extensively in the field of photography. Her publications, which stem from her work and research stays in various national and international institutions (including the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico, Sorbonne Université in Paris, Glasgow Caledonian University, Università degli Studi Roma Tre and Charles University in Prague), can be consulted via her ORCID profile. She has also sought to build bridges between academic knowledge and its transfer to broader social contexts, taking part in projects such as “Género y figura. Reivindicando a las mujeres fotógrafas”, contributing to photobook outreach (“Mirar de cerca. El fotolibro”, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía) and working on archive research or exhibition curating (Casa Azul–Frida Kahlo Museum, Sala Ricardo Ortega). She is Co-PI of the research group ComPublic (Public Communication: Power, Law and Message) at UCLM.
Marta Martín Núñez
Marta Martín Núñez is Associate Professor of Photography and Narrative at the Faculty of Human Sciences at Universitat Jaume I in Castellón, where she has developed a teaching and research career focused on contemporary Spanish photography, memory and visual narratives through the critical analysis of audiovisual discourse—topics on which she has published widely. She has been a resident at Pervasive Media Studio in Bristol and has undertaken research stays at the Hasselblad Foundation (Gothenburg), Roehampton University (London), the National Library of Spain and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía through Universidad Complutense de Madrid, as well as at New York University. She has been principal investigator on several competitive research projects funded through public calls and has led the creation of the Photographic Memory Archive of the Spanish Civil War, a project that recovers, analyses and preserves photographic production published in contemporary photobooks of memory and postmemory. This work has also taken the form of the exhibition Ecos de la memoria. Fotolibros del presente at the Museu de Belles Arts de Castelló in 2023, which travelled to Barcelona in 2024 and to Montpellier in 2025, funded by the Spanish Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with Parliament and Democratic Memory. She is co-editor-in-chief of L’Atalante. Revista de Estudios Cinematográficos and director of LabCom at UJI.