Book launch of Ocaña. The eternal brilliance of the Sun of Cantillana

Romancero Books with the support of the Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs of the Spanish Embassy in London and AC/E Programme for the Internalisation of Spanish Culture presents the III Festival of Queer Literature in Spanish in London - FQLSL

Talk Editor Carlos Barea and Dos Bigotes Press editors Alberto Rodríguez and Gonzalo Izquierdo about the book Ocaña. The eternal brilliance of the Sun of Cantillana - This event is presented in partnership with Foyles Charing Cross Road

We are delighted to welcome Carlos Barea, Alberto Rodríguez And Gonzalo Izquierdo To Foyles Charing Cross Road

Ocaña. The eternal brilliance of the Sun of Cantillana

A work that delves, on the 40th anniversary of his death, into the figure of Ocaña, a free and transgressive artist.

What is it about the figure of José Pérez Ocaña that, forty years after his death, continues to arouse admiration? Ocaña. The eternal brilliance of the Sun of Cantillana is a collective volume coordinated by Carlos Barea that tries to answer this question through a multidisciplinary look at the life and work of one of the most prominent artists of the Catalan counterculture of the late 1990s. seventies and early eighties.

With the intention of shedding some light on a character about whom much has been said, but little has been written, the book brings together a large team of authors who have been in charge of investigating his work and everything that surrounded his figure . : from his almost forced sexile to his obsession with the religious imagery in his paintings or performances , through an analysis of the artistic-cultural context in which he developed.

In addition to texts from people as close to Ocaña as the film director Ventura Pons , his close friend Nazario or an interview with his twin brother, two unpublished documents are included : a biographical story signed by the artist himself and a letter from his hand and letter he wrote to Felipe de Paco.

Ocaña. The eternal brilliance of the Sun of Cantillana is, in short, a book that aims to unravel the mystery of an absolutely free artist who left dressed in the sun and whose radiance has survived to this day.

VVAA (Ocaña)

Ocaña

José Pérez Ocaña (Cantillana, Seville, 24 March 1947 – 18 September 1983), better known as Ocaña, was a Spanish performer, artist, anarchist, and LGBT activist.

Ocaña, who was an icon of resistance to the Franco dictatorship during the Spanish transition, is one of the key figures forgotten by Spanish art historiography. His performances and diverse actions, contemporary to the birth of the punk movement and the first LGBT protest movements, prefigured the practices of sexual and gender disobedience that would begin to be grouped under the name of ‘queer activism’ in the early 1980s.

He was born in Cantillana, a village in the province of Seville, Andalusia. An acknowledged homosexual and proud to be so, he left his hometown in 1971 due to intolerance and marginalisation, to move to Barcelona, the ideal city to express his art and his transgressive ideas. He declared himself an anarchist (his “performances” during the International Libertarian Days of the CNT in 1977 in Park Güell were historic). He lived in the Plaza Real where he had an altar full of flowers on the balcony with an image of the Virgin of the Assumption (the protagonist of the great festivities of Cantillana on 15 August). He knew artists such as Nazario and Copi. He lived humbly in a flat in Barcelona and worked as a wall painter in order to survive.

Although his art was appreciated by many, he stood out for his way of living, for expressing himself freely without paying attention to the possible consequences in a country still stuck in archaic and dangerous values. He was a typical character of the Ramblas, he dressed up without any concealment in broad daylight with a mixture of Andalusian folklore and the typical religiosity of his land, and he lived surrounded by those who loved and understood him.

In September 1983 he returned to Cantillana to celebrate the Carnival festivities and to join his family. There he made a sun costume out of paper, cloth, and flares, which caught fire and burned him to death. He died in hospital on 18 September 1983, a week after accidentally burning himself.

Ventura Pons dedicated his first documentary film to him in 1978: “Ocaña, Retrato Intermitente“. He himself starred in the film to tell the story of his life. Nazario, a cartoonist and friend of his, paid tribute to him with the comic “Alí Babá y los 40 Maricones“.

Carlos Barea

Carlos Barea (Granada, 1987) has a degree in Advertising and Public Relations from the Rey Juan Carlos University, a master's degree in Creative Writing from the Hotel Kafka school and a master's degree in LGTBIQ+ Studies from the Complutense University of Madrid. He has collaborated with various media, specialising in film criticism and LGTBIQ+ literature, in addition to working as a professional reader for different publishers. He also teaches LGTBIQ+ literary creation workshops, as well as others related to diversity in the audiovisual world, in collaboration with FAD and Netflix. In relation to his role as a writer, in 2020 he published his first novel, Blessed You Are (Egales), and in 2023 he coordinated the collective works Flores para Lola. A queer and feminist look at the Pharaoh(Dos Bigotes y Egales) and Ocaña. The eternal shine of the Sun of Cantillana (Dos Bigotes). In that same year she also participated in ¡Long live trash! (Two Bigotes), a review of the work of John Waters from the perspective of different authors specialised in cinema.

Dos Bigotes

Alberto Rodríguez and Gonzalo Izquierdo are the editors of Dos Bigotes

Event in Spanish with English Translation.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the end of the event. Please note the book is only available in Spanish.

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