Letters from Spain

Spanish artists Carme Nogueira and Elena Prado conducted two months of research on the Spanish migrants who settled in West Brabant in the early 1960s.

Spanish workers

After an agreement between the Dutch and Spanish governments under Franco’s rule, a steady stream of Spanish labourers started moving to the Netherlands in 1961. Until 1971, Spanish labourers made up the majority of the migrant group arriving in the Netherlands. However, little can be found about this in national and local archives. Many Spaniards settled in Breda to work at factories such as Etna and Hero. Together they became a close-knit community.

Artists in Residence: Carme Nogueira and Elena Prado

At the invitation of Stedelijk Museum Breda and Witte Rook, artists Carme Nogueira and Elena Prado have created the research exhibition Letters from Spain – Tracing the Spanish community in Breda. Nogueira worked remotely from Spain as an Artist in Residence on this research project. Elena Prado researched the influences of Spanish migration in Breda. Together they make this unknown history visible with facts and information, images, objects and stories.

Call for stories to share

Prado and Nogueira are searching for personal stories and work experiences of the first generation of Spanish migrants in the 1960s and 1970s or those involved in F.E.B.O. (Federacion de Españoles Brabante Occidental), which was founded in Breda in 1976. In addition, they ask all Breda residents who feel an affiliation with this subject to share any stories, objects and memories they have. This can be done by sending an email to brievenuitspanje@witterook.nu

Carme Noguiera

Carme Nogueira, is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Vigo, Spain. Her work is included in the collection of the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid. Research into the identity of urban dwellers and current cultural and political issues are important starting points in Nogueira’s work. The relationship between the viewer and the artwork is central to this. Previously, Nogueira was Artist in Residence at Wilde Weten in Rotterdam.

Elena Prado

Elena Prado studied Fine Arts at the University of Salamanca, the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Elena Prado has been living in the Netherlands since 2003. In her work, Prado’s focus lies on examining changes in our social thinking with regards to the multicultural society. Image analysis and photography play an important role in this.

Cooperation

The collaboration between Stedelijk Museum Breda and Witte Rook is based on a shared desire to tell the story of the city within an artistic context. Letters from Spain came about thanks to Proeftuin Internationalisering of the province of North Brabant.