Bárbara Allende Gil de Biedma (29 June 1957 – 24 May 2022), also known as Ouka Leele, was a Spanish photographer.

Life and career

Bárbara Allende Gil de Biedma was born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

on 29 June 1957 to a well-off family belonging to the

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

's bourgeoisie. Her uncle

Jaime Gil de Biedma Jaime Gil de Biedma y Alba (13 November 1929 – 8 January 1990) was a Spanish post-Civil War poet. He was born in Nava de la Asunción on 13 November 1929. He stopped writing poetry some ten years before his death. He insisted that the charact ...

was a famous poet; and her cousin

Esperanza Aguirre Esperanza Aguirre y Gil de Biedma (; born 3 January 1952) is a Spanish politician. As member of the People's Party (PP), she served as President of the Senate between 1999 and 2002 (becoming the first female politician to have held the post), a ...

served as the

President of the Community of Madrid The president of the Community of Madrid is the highest-ranking officer of the Autonomous Community of Madrid and the head of the executive branch. The office is currently held by Isabel Díaz Ayuso of the People's Party. Origins and election ...

from 2003 to 2012. She picked up the alias of Ouka Leele after the name of a fictional star created by

El Hortelano José Alfonso Morera Ortiz (August 6, 1954 – December 20, 2016), commonly known by his artist name, El Hortelano (the horticulturist), was a painter. He was influential in the countercultural movement known as the Movida Madrileña, along w ...

. She was one of the most important photographers during

La Movida Madrileña ''La Movida Madrileña'' ( en, The Madrilenian Scene) was a countercultural movement that took place mainly in Madrid during the Spanish transition to democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. The movement coincided with econ ...

and she also worked as an illustrator and wrote several poetry books. She was a member of the

Agence VU Agence Vu, (stylised as Agence VU and Agence VU') is a photography agency established in 1986 that has headquarters on Rue Saint-Lazare in Paris. It works with both photojournalists Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news ...

. In the wake of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, she participated in 2020 in an anti-mask stunt organised by Rafael Palacios, and claimed that "the best mask is love". She died on 24 May 2022.

Awards

* Premio Nacional de Fotografía,

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: *Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) *Ministry of Culture (Argentina) *Minister for the Arts (Australia) *Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan) * Ministry of ...

, 2005 * Premio de Cultura de la

Comunidad de Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Meseta Central, Central Plateau (''Meseta Central''). Its capital and ...

, 2003 (photography) * Premio Ícaro de Artes Plásticas, ''

Diario 16 ''Diario 16'' (Spanish for "Daily 16" or "Newspaper 16") was a Spanish-language daily newspaper published in Madrid, Spain, between 1976 and 2001. The ''16'' of the title refers to the sixteen founders of Grupo 16, publishers of the weekly news m ...

'', 1983.

Collections (partial)

* Centre of Vieille Charité, Marseille * Photography Andalusian Centre * Collection Arco, Madrid * Foundation Cartier, Paris * Foundation La Caixa, Barcelona * Cervantes Institute, Lisbon *

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía The ''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía'' ("Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre"; MNCARS) is Spain's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía. It ...

. Madrid * Tabaco Gitanes, Paris.

Publications

* ''Poesía en carne viva''
Ediciones Atlantis
2006) * ''Ouka Leele. El nombre de una estrella''
Ellago Ediciones
2006) * ''Ouka Leele inédita''
tf. editores
2008).

References

Sources

* Álvarez, J. D. ''Esa luz cuando justo da el sol. Biografía de Ouka Leele''
Neverland Ediciones
2006).

External links

*
Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leele, Ouka 1957 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Spanish women artists Spanish photographers Artists from Madrid Feminist artists Spanish contemporary artists Spanish women photographers