Photojournalism and memory. The construction of metaphorical narratives during the spanish transition

Abstract

During the Spanish Transition, photojournalism became a crucial vehicle for shaping collective memory. Through a visual analysis of a series of iconic images from this period—examining their narrative structure and visual rhetoric based on the works of Newton (2001), Lehtonen (2011) and Baetens & Sánchez-Mesa (2024) mainly—a critical commentary is developed. The conclusions expose how certain iconographies are repeated, feeding back into the interpretations. In this context, the role of staging and the visual rhetoric of mise en abyme are particularly significant in amplifying meaning. Thus, photography is not merely a transcription of reality but rather a discursive construction that actively shapes how societies remember and interpret their past.