The series “Matances” (1991) certifies and reaffirms photographer Joan-Ramon Bonet’s particular predilection for choosing everyday, apparently trivial themes as the nucleus of his works. By way of an anthropological document, and sequentially, Bonet photographs the full process of the traditional slaughter of a pig held in the village of Ariany (Mallorca) in order to refer to a deep-rooted custom on Mallorca which is passed down from parents to children and is closely linked to native Mallorcan gastronomy.

The series, represented in Es Baluard’s collection through six photographs, comprises takes in Black and White and, with their clear mastery of light, they refer to the beginning of the slaughter – the free pig, before being killed – until the latter part when, at the end of the day, the women have finished making the sausages, the characteristic sobrassada, and the day is over. This is a portrayal of a tradition which lives on in Mallorcan culture, unifying work and festivity and referring to the classic documentary photographers who were interested in ethnography.

E.B.