'Witnesses of a damned time' is a project about Franco’s spanish dictatorship repression against gay, lesbian and transexual people.

During that period, homosexuality was illegal in Spain. There were several laws created in order to illegalize homosexuality. It has been illegal in Spain until 26th December 1978, punished with imprisonment in jails or concentration camps. Some jails were specifically dedicated for homosexual prisoners, as the one placed in Huelva or another one placed in Badajoz. In some others jails there were specific modules for gay or transexual prisoners. In the Carabanchel prison in Madrid, the top floor was used for that purpose. From that floor some gay or trans prisoners commited suicide jumping to the ground.

Transexual people were treated as if they were homosexual. Franco’s regime was unable to understand the difference between homosexuality and transexuality.

Lesbians were discriminated both as women and as homosexuals.

This project aims to make known the enormous repression suffered by homosexual and transexual people in Spain during dictatorship, which is not known by Spanish society that has been hiding for years all the crimes Franco’s regime did during his dictatorship.

From 2010 to 2012 I searched through Spain for people who suffered this kind of repression or discrimination. I met them and interviewed them. The result is a series of paintings, photographs, biographical texts of each one, plus a documentary I made based on their interviews.