Esperanza Aguirre, the president of Region of Madrid, has presented this morning the exhibition Isabel Muñoz. Love and Ecstasy, organized to mark the award of the Region of Madrid Photography Award 2006 Isabel Muñoz focuses her camera on the spiritual dance ceremonies in Siria, Iran, Irak and Turkey Her pictures show the whirling dervishes and the mystical practices of brotherhood from the Sufi´s religion in Irak On the occasion of the exhibition La Fábrica Editorial will publish a new volume of its colection Obras Maestras which shows the artistic career of the photographer Further information: www.phe.es and www.madrid.org Isabel Muñoz is a studier of human forms, who uses her images to analyse fragments of the body or shots of warriors, bullfighters or dancers. This is in addition to her skill in development techniques – a process which she completes traditionally and in minute detail. Her investigative urges have led her to travel the world to capture movements and bodies, building up a style in which sensuality, pleasure and desire are captured in a snapshot. This time the photographer has chosen to address the mystic’s body, the bodies of those who live in a profound relationship with religious practice. It is known that all religions make reference to human efforts to dominate—or separate—the body as a way of becoming closer to God. The aim is to move closer to divine purity, following a rigorous journey. Isabel Muñoz finds contemporary examples of this phenomenon in Islam and within it, in Sufism. On the one hand, she portrays whirling dervishes, highlighting the dancers using monochrome colors at the limits of black and white in an effort to avoid any kind of “decorative” approach. In them, the dervish twirls with increasing speed until he reaches a form of self-transcendence, extending his arms, with his right hand pointed towards the heavens to receive the grace of Allah, and his left hand towards the ground to diffuse it. At the same time, Isabel uses color to offer us a view of another practice, never before photographed by a non-believer. In Iraq, during a meeting of followers in the Al Qadiriya brotherhood, some of the most advanced believers in their knowledge of themselves and their road to God, undertake physical tests that surpass comprehension for the uninitiated. The men swallow glass shards and razor blades, wounding themselves with daggers… With her use of color, framing and the composure of their hands, the photographer gestures towards a representation of Christ figures and saints with a Baroque quality. Biography Isabel Muñoz (Barcelona 1951) has received the Bartolomé Ros Award at PhotoEspaña 2009, the gold medal at the Alexandria Biennial, and two World Press Photo awards. Her individual exhibitions include those at the La Villa Cultural Centre in Madrid (2006), the National Museum of Fine Art in Havana (2006) and the Casa de América in Madrid (2007). A number of books have been published of her work, such as Parade Nuptiale; María Illusión; Figures Sans Visages (Faceless Figures); Roma, l’invention du Barroque (Rome, the Baroque invention) and Isabel Muñoz, from the PhotoBolsillo collection