J. M. Castro Prieto
Caín
Fábrica Cal Garbat

A biblical figure marks the starting point: Cain, the firstborn condemned even before he could act.
The project echoes Extraños (2003), but inverts its direction; it is no longer inner fear that dominates, but a burden imposed from the outside – social and moral – inherited without choice.
Here, the escape is not physical but symbolic: an escape from a narrative that others write before one can intervene, from the weight of a moral legacy one has not chosen. The images opt for obscurity and cryptic character rather than direct explanation.
They do not propose a fixed interpretation: they involve the viewer through the resonances they evoke, in keeping with the inscrutable nature of Cain himself, who is always beyond the reach of complete understanding.

Juan Manuel Castro Prieto (Madrid, 1958) uses photography to reveal the hidden reality behind everyday life, creating images in which mystery, unease and beauty coexist.
Winner of the 2015 National Photography Award and a member of Agence VU since 2001, his work has been exhibited internationally.
His books include Peru, Journey to the Sun, Strangers, Cespedosa, Solovki, It Happened Between Two Eyelids and Cain.
He contributes to publications such as El País, Le Monde and National Geographic.

