Join us for a special book signing during the New York City launch of artist Espe Pons’s Maybe Never Again, a new publication exploring the role of foreign women in the anti-fascist struggle during the Spanish Civil War. Through documentation of the landscapes where they worked, their families, and personal belongings, the publication preserves their memory.
The book signing will be accompanied by Jo Labanyi, Professor Emerita from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at New York University (NYU), and Nancy Wallach, an Executive Board Member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) and daughter of Hy Wallach, a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
This program is free to attend. Maybe Never Again will be available to buy in the ICP shop.
About the Book
Maybe Never Again is a photobook about foreign women who joined the Republican struggle against fascism during the Spanish Civil War. Espe Pons photographs the places where they worked—Brunete, Albacete, Huete, and Mataró—showing empty landscapes and ruins that evoke their absence. The project restores visibility to doctors, nurses, photographers, journalists, militiamen and thinkers who arrived as volunteers from abroad: Elzbieta Bekier, Anni Brunner, Hedwig Buss-Diener, Maria Gothelf Melchior, Nan Green, Liesel Hidden-Mottek, Kate Kirstein, May Levine, Dora Lorska, Fredericka Martin, Tina Modotti, Margarita Nelken Mansberger, Betty Rosenfeld, Jeanne Roussant, Rachel Schwartzman, Esther Silverstein Blanc, Thora Silverthorne, Gerda Taro, Clara Thalmann, Lillian Urmston and Simone Weil.
The author locates their families and constructs contemporary portraits, as well as documenting personal objects that preserve their memory. The book includes 21 biographies written by relatives and historians about the women featured. Six specialists contribute texts that provide historical and cultural context for the Spanish Civil War. It is complemented by archival photographs by authors such as Gerda Taro, Edward Weston, Kati Horna, and Agustí Centelles. With 221 pages, the photobook is self-published with the support of various cultural and historical memory institutions.
Sobre el Libro
Maybe Never Again es un fotolibro sobre mujeres extranjeras que se unieron a la lucha republicana contra el fascismo durante la Guerra Civil Española. Espe Pons fotografía los lugares donde trabajaron -Brunete, Albacete, Huete o Mataró- mostrando paisajes vacíos y ruinas que evocan su ausencia. El proyecto devuelve visibilidad a médicas, enfermeras, fotógrafas, periodistas, milicianas y pensadoras llegadas como voluntarias del extranjero: Elzbieta Bekier, Anni Brunner, Hedwig Buss-Diener, Maria Gothelf Melchior, Nan Green, Liesel Hidden-Mottek, Kate Kirstein, May Levine, Dora Lorska, Fredericka Martin, Tina Modotti, Margarita Nelken Mansberger, Betty Rosenfeld, Jeanne Roussant, Rachel Schwartzman, Esther Silverstein Blanc, Thora Silverthorne, Gerda Taro, Clara Thalmann, Lillian Urmston y Simone Weil.
La autora localiza a sus familias y construye retratos actuales, además de documentar objetos personales que conservan su memoria. El libro incluye las 21 biografías escritas por familiares e historiadores sobre las mujeres protagonistas. Seis especialistas aportan textos que contextualizan histórica y culturalmente la Guerra Civil Española. Se complementa con fotografías de archivo de autores como Gerda Taro, Edward Weston, Kati Horna o Agustí Centelles. Con 221 páginas, el fotolibro es una autoedición apoyada por diversas instituciones culturales y de memoria histórica.
About the Speakers
Espe Pons (Barcelona, 1973) is a research artist who works with photography, focusing on memory and landscape, developing a practice centered on historical memory. In 2019, she was selected, along with Jordi Jové, for an artist residency program at the Three Shadows Center for Photographic Art in Beijing, China. Her work has been exhibited in various venues, including the University of Minnesota and the Centro de la Imafen in Mexico City. She is currently exhibiting at the Ex Convento del Carmen Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico with exhibition Para no olvidar and Mirrors of Oblivion at the Cervantes Institute in Chicago. She has published six photobooks, Under the Light of the Sea, Tierra, Flucht, Portraits, and her latest, Maybe Never Again.
Image by: Rodrigo S.Moulinié
Header Image by: Espe Pons
