DE DIER: REIMAGINING THROUGH MEMORY AND REMEMBRANCE

The Real Sociedad Fotográfica, in association with the Cómo ser Fotógrafas platform, hosts Postales de la memoria. Anotaciones visuales de lugares no olvidados, a solo exhibition by Giana De Dier (Panama City, Panama, 1990), curated by Raquel Villar-Pérez. The show brings together three series that reflect part of the artist’s practice, developed from the personal memories and experiences she retains of the historic area of Relleno del Javillo—also known as El Terraplén—in the Old Quarter of the Central American capital.

The common thread uniting the three projects lies in their questioning of memory and of the processes of physical and mental recording, and in how fragmented histories are reconstructed through subjectivity. In Te recuerdo, pero la realidad es que todo fue un sueño, De Dier composes a visual poem from press and archival images that allow her to revive her nostalgic impressions of the area. Focused on reminiscences from the 1980s and 1990s, the series shapes its imagery through affect and sentiment.

The works presented in Nos volveremos a ver porque todo se repite emphasize the significance of the circularity of time while also delving into questions of memory, documentation, and erased history. In light of the scarcity of sources and archives that consistently record the Afro-Caribbean presence in Panama, the artist addresses this absence through the analysis and interrogation of diasporic archives. In doing so, De Dier reimagines those figures excluded from historiography as reinhabiting the space within the framework of her memory.

Meanwhile, No me olvides recreates the vitality of emblematic spaces in El Terraplén—such as the pier, the market, and its surrounding streets—through the use of historical photography and collage. These fragmented images function as records of everyday life while retaining their incomplete nature. De Dier once again reflects on the condition of memory, celebrating enduring affective ties in the face of the transformations the area has undergone through processes of modernization and spatial resignification.

Giana De Dier. Postales de la memoria. Anotaciones visuales de lugares no olvidados can be seen until March 7, 2026, at the Real Sociedad Fotográfica gallery, Tres Peces 2, Madrid (Spain).