The Artium Museoa, Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country Collection features a set of 17 photographs by the singer, songwriter, poet and visual artist Patti Smith (Chicago, USA, 1946). To mark an exhibition dedicated to the artist in 2008, Smith wandered the streets of cities such as Vitoria-Gasteiz, Gernika and San Sebastián accompanied by her notebook and camera – a Polaroid Land 250 – with which she photographed various places directly and instantly, in accordance with the use of such cameras. These photographs therefore act as the notes and memoir of a journey.

A selection of these images, donated by the artist to the Foundation, can be seen in this new presentation of Bilduma, ikusgai (The Collection Made Visible), a project in which the museum showcases works from its collection in various spaces within the building, thereby helping to activate the movement of the works and encouraging visitor engagement with them.

In a process that runs parallel to that carried out in her poetry or songs, her images play with layers of meaning, suggesting veils, at times literally, and leaving just enough room for interpretation. Images, some blurry or unclear, filled with shadows or framed in an unusual manner, never concealing as much as they suggest.

Works on display