Oui Oui La Famille, the beautiful new tome presented by Barcelona-based photographer Adrià Cañameras and gallery-cum-publishing house Superavit, is about as far from a tattered old family album as one can get. It’s clothbound and printed in a limited edition of 500, for starters, with neither a scribbled caption nor a sticky fingerprint-covered cellophane envelope in sight. Nonetheless, all of the key proponents of such a treasured heirloom are there: it presents the photographer’s work on a familial theme over a number of years, from his earliest Polaroid snapshots to the carefully composed portraits of more recent years. It is, essentially, a family portrait.
“About eight years ago, my mother gave me the Polaroids that appear at the beginning of the book,” Cañameras explains, making reference to the candid, affection-filled images of a young-looking couple, seemingly captured years ago. “They’re photographs I took of my parents over the course of a weekend when I was seven years old. When Superavit approached me to make a book with a family theme, I thought it could start with these Polaroids, and then jump to the photos I've taken of my family between 2005 and 2015.” It’s a charming idea, building a loose narrative around biannual get-togethers in the South of France, with the occasional trip to Italy and Corsica thrown in for good measure. As such, there are riverside picnics, boat trips, busy mealtimes and idyllic floral meadows – all ingredients of his Mediterranean upbringing. “There are many people in my family, and always lots of kids. That's what the family is – kids and more kids!”
One of the most poignant images in the book is of a swarm of butterflies perched peacefully on the ground – an almost mystical happening, the likes of which is usually only seen in Hayao Miyazaki-esque animations. “One afternoon we went for a walk with some of the children to a nearby mountain,” Cañameras explains. “We saw the butterflies from afar and slowly got closer. I took the photograph and then one of the kids tried to catch a butterfly and they all flew away. I've never seen so many butterflies together since.
In regards to formatting, Oui Oui La Famille is punctuated by subheadings in both French and Spanish, Cañameras’ family’s two spoken languages, which act as interventions in what is largely an image-based narrative. “The subheadings are continuity guides in the story – they mark a rhythm in the book,” he says. “Their purpose is the same as a 'cajón' or a drum in a song.” Indeed, they lend the imagery a timelessness, creating the sense of a universal family. “They are live elements: images, textures and colours that our brain interprets through a guideline.”
As for how he feels when reflecting on the photographs now? “I love seeing them in such a thoughtfully created book, as before the photos were in a bit of a mess. I remember the moment in each photograph. I hope I can make a second volume in ten years time, maybe with a child of my own in it...”
Oui Oui La Famille is out now, published by Superavit.
