Aitor Lara: Ronda Goyesca

Ronda Goyesca presents the newest work of Spanish photographer Aitor Lara (born 1974), documenting the astounding Corrida Goyesca--a legendary bullfight that takes place every year in the Andalusian city of Ronda, the oldest bull ring in Spain. Lara’s exquisite black-and-white photographs record all aspects of the spectacle, in which bullfighters, bulls and the audience equally participate, narrating the occasion as it unfolds: the horse-and-carriage processions before the fights; the toreadors praying at altars, or steeling themselves in a hastily snatched moment of privacy; their extraordinary regalia, and that of their wives; their walk along the lonely passageway to the bullring; the wide open space of the ring and the audience tense with expectation; and of course, the moment of confrontation between bull and toreador, which Lara shoots both close up and from ringside, while audience members gesticulate in exultation, encouragement or fear.