San Juan

San Juan is a traditional festivity celebrated in many Spanish cities, which takes place on the evening of 23 June (St. John’s Eve).

When I was a kid in Barcelona, it meant the end of school days, it was liberating because the summer holidays had started, but since I’ve lived in Madrid, I haven’t been interested in this tradition until this past year 2019.

I was surprised, it was very different from Barcelona’s celebrations, so I took a very observational approach when I took these photos. I wanted to capture the extreme moments where people burned their skin but also the social aspect of this tradition, where people meet and spend the night together.