Brief Memory Glimpses: Civil War Madrid

2019 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Spanish Civil War: On April 1, 1939, a conflict that ended with 150,000 lives -a figure much discussed by experts- and more than 200,000 people displaced from their homes began a period of dictatorship that would last at least 36 more years.

Wanting to give some historical brushstrokes of the terrible panorama, we find on the way the work of the scriptwriter, musician and photographer Sebastian Maharg: Pasado en paralelo: Madrid 1936-1939. This is a photographic project that began in 2015 by combining the technology of Google Street View and war photographs taken from the national archive.

The project has evolved with public support and on the occasion of the anniversary, Sebastian has launched an archive composed of his own photographs that gathers up to 50 situations where times and emotions overlap; a work in progress that opens windows to a past full of cruelty in the Madrid of the conflict.

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Past in Parallel: Civil War Behind Every Corner

The succession of photographs, of excellent quality, supposes a constant clash of memories, of known, famous and even daily places for thousands of citizens, who step neglected the pavement driven by the ignorance of their history. Maharg’s work loads the exceptionally concrete history of points in the city, like frozen moments that take advantage to look into each other’s eyes for a second, to let the story run again seconds later, but with the feeling of having changed everything.

Sebastian intends to enlarge the collection of photographs in number and cities, taking his work to Seville, Barcelona… Thus managing to load with history the daily situations of its citizens, in a mute cry of anonymous lives that lived passed and died at the same point that 80 years later cross daily hundreds of transparent glances.

You can enjoy the artist’s wonderful work in this selection, or access his full work on his website and social networks.

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Todo el material gráfico pertenece a ©2018 Sebastian Maharg.

Referencias:

• –Spanish Civil War–
• –Battle of Madrid–
• –Spanish Dictatorship–
• –Webstite Sebastian Maharg–
• –Instagram Sebastian Maharg-

About Sebastian Maharg:

(Chicago, 1974)

Born in Chicago to a Salmantine mother and a Scottish father. After graduating in Political Science (Rockford University, Illinois) he obtained an M.B.A (Dominican University, Illinois) and studied film at Chicago Filmmakers. In 2002 he moved to Madrid and began working as a scriptwriter and translator. He is also founder, composer-vocalist of Mechanismo, an indie rock group that is currently preparing its second LP. Recently launched Pasado en Paralelo is a photographic project that combines archive photos from the Spanish Civil War in the same places today.