Over fifty years ago, Carmen Sidro earned a living capturing moments at popular festivals across the province of Castellón. Her work, comprising over 100,000 negatives, is preserved at her home in Cabanes, having withstood the test of time. Currently, this vast archive is undergoing digitization to safeguard the images and collective memory of those years.
Carmen Sidro broke barriers in a society with established limits for women. From Cabanes, traveling the surrounding area on a Vespa scooter, she took portraits of the local residents, thus earning her living. "She would seek out people, festivals, to photograph grandmothers, parents with their children, and groups of friends," explains her daughter, Carmen Segarra Sidro.
“"Those negatives are nitrate and can disappear, and we would be left without the history of many people"
The archive, consisting of approximately 120,000 negatives, is currently being examined by a specialized company from Madrid. The primary objective is to digitize the entire collection and create a robust archive before the older materials, particularly those made of nitrate, deteriorate irreversibly. "Those negatives are nitrate and can disappear, and we would be left without the history of many people," explains Angélila Soleimán, photography conservator at the company Sivaria.
This initiative highlights the crucial importance of preserving our graphic memory for future generations before it is too late.
