Among the millions of images of Holy Week, this year there is one that has had an impact on the rest, that of a woman and mother dressed as a Nazarene breastfeeding her son at the end of her penance season at 3:30 a.m. the morning. Its author, José Jiménez Jiménez, tells La Vanguardia the story of how this impressive image was created.
This iconic image has gone around the world with tens of thousands of reactions and thousands of comments on networks. The power of the image also invites reflection, what role do mothers and mothers play in the world of the brotherhood?
“4 years ago I had been thinking about this photo, when a co-worker had her first child and she breastfed him in front of the procession of the Captive” from Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cádiz), the brotherhood to which they both belong. "On that occasion she could not be, but she told me at the time that she wanted us to take that photo and when I found out that she had had the second child, I proposed it to her."
The first attempt at the photo took place at the beginning of the procession, around 5 in the afternoon "but the light was very harsh and there were a lot of people, I didn't like the result", says the photographer, "so we continued with our station of penance thinking of leaving it for the end”.
However, when the procession was coming to an end and it was going to be time to take the photo that they had both been wanting to take for 4 years, "a brother fainted and we went to help him because I am a doctor and she is an assistant" and obviously that was not important in That moment. “It seemed this year that it was not going to be possible either.”
“The most beautiful night of the year had ended”, almost no one was left in the church; the photographer, the mother, the grandmother with the baby in her arms who wouldn't stop crying and the butler putting out the candles. Then, with the inconsolable cry of a hungry baby, the woman took her breast from her and began to feed her.
That was the moment, natural, slow, tender... "I asked the butler who is a friend of the brotherhood to wait a few minutes to take the photo" and that powerful image was left, full of claim and beauty, which "was gestated for 4 years and took 4 minutes to make. "Finally it was that natural," says Jiménez.
The objective of the photo, in the words of José Jiménez, is "to vindicate the role of women and mothers within Holy Week", which continues to be "very conservative", as is the case and in other areas of the society.
“It is a powerful image that generates feelings and emotions, which can be tender but also rejection, but it is precisely this diversity of sensations that generates debate, which is what I wanted to achieve with this photograph”, explains the author. .
"It is difficult to make a photo stand out among the noise of the millions of photos that are published on networks" and are shared at Easter. "I did not expect the repercussion but I know that it has a great visual impact", in fact, they have contacted him from other countries Argentina, Portugal.
“I am happy because with photography two things have been achieved; to vindicate the fundamental role of women in society in general and in the world of the brotherhood in particular”, the author tells this newspaper.
The image has had a great impact on social networks, tens of thousands of reactions in the media in which it has been published and thousands of comments. When asked about the general feeling that people have expressed when seeing it, Jiménez explains that "in general it has aroused love, tenderness and a positive reaction", however, "there are also those who reject it".
One of the criticisms that is made is why the mother has to wear the hood during the photo. Jiménez explains that "it is the hood that gives it a visual impact, if not, she would be a beautiful woman breast-feeding and would not generate debate."
In this way, it is highlighted how women have been made invisible in the cofrade world, where it is still frowned upon for women to hold important positions in sororities, for example. "This does not happen to us in the Hermandad del Cautivo, which is a young brotherhood and she had no problem either 4 years ago, with her first child, to breastfeed in front of the procession", but we know that it happens in a large number of brotherhoods.
“Since I was 16 years old, I have carried a camera on my back,” says José Jiménez, who, although he is a doctor by profession and vocation, photography has always been in his life and he practices it professionally even though it is not his main livelihood.
At 47 years old, he tells us that the important thing is not knowing the photographer but his work. "That your work is talked about is the important thing," she adds.
In his career as a photographer, all his photos are in black and white, and he has his explanation. “Black and white is my signature, I have always worked on it” by hand with reels and in the laboratory and “it has taken me a long time to find that range of grays that I wanted in digital”, he explains. "Black and white is timeless, it stops time," he says.
