Beyond the visible

Lesbians and photographic self-representation in Iberian Peninsula cities in the late 20th century

Abstract

For a long time, lesbians were practically invisible in cities on the Iberian Peninsula. They barely had places or spaces of their own, and were seldom associated with images or imageries. In the Spanish State, “franquismo” contributed greatly to this invisibility. But the occupation of urban space by an identity is essential for it to be constructed as a political and social subject. After the Transition, with the first groups of lesbian feminist activists, and during the 1980s and 1990s, lesbians began a process of transforming their condition of invisibility, accompanied by a drive for self-representation, within the streets of cities such as Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid. These photos are mainly in the possession of the photographers and those who appear in them, inside boxes or stored away in the closet. In this article, we begin to shed light on them, analysing and reflecting on their effects today, opening up new urban counter-imageries in the context of the Peninsula