On 4 November at 19:00, the ‘album of memory’ exhibition will be inaugurated at the sala iberia in cuenca. This exhibition showcases photographs by José Luis Pinós, documenting the recent history of the province from the final years of the franquist regime to the establishment of democracy.
The opening event will feature the author, the exhibition curator Santiago Torralba, and Marian López, the delegate of the Junta in Cuenca. The exhibition will be open to the public from 4 to 15 November and is part of the ‘50 años juntos’ programme, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the start of the democratic transition in Castilla-La Mancha.
‘Album of memory’ presents images that capture the political and social transformation of Cuenca during this significant period. Through historical events, civic mobilisations, and everyday scenes, the exhibition reveals how the province evolved with the arrival of democracy. Notable moments captured by Pinós include the first democratic elections in 1977, May Day demonstrations, and student protests in the late 1970s.
The exhibition also features anonymous citizens, images of local villages, and scenes of daily life that reflect the hopes, concerns, and contradictions of a society undergoing profound change.
José Luis Pinós, born in Hontanaya in 1953, began his professional career in 1973 at the now-defunct Diario de Cuenca. Over the decades, he documented political events, protests, local festivals, and sports competitions, becoming one of the key visual chroniclers of the province's recent history. His archive serves as a valuable documentary testament to that era. In 2022, the Cuenca Press Association awarded him the Honour Prize for Journalistic Career.
The exhibition is curated by Santiago Torralba, a local photographer and visual artist, who has selected and contextualised the images to narrate the changes experienced by the province during the transition and the early years of democracy.
This exhibition is part of the broader ‘50 años juntos’ programme, which aims to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the democratic transition through over 500 cultural and educational activities across the region from September 2026 to April 2027. The initiative seeks not only to recover the memory of that period but also to promote dialogue, consensus, coexistence, and respect for plurality as fundamental principles of democracy, making its significance accessible to new generations.
