The struggle of the Montagut farmers, in Alcarràs, was one of the events that marked the last decades of the 20th century in Lleida. A social conflict that took center stage in the media especially during the 80s and early 90s when the eviction of the sharecroppers who worked those lands was made effective with major police actions. That struggle for land is a chapter in the social history of Lleida, Segrià and Catalonia. A part of contemporary history that has been imprinted analogically in Les luchadores de la terra , a photographic report that Esther Remacha (Lleida, 1965) made at the time for the Diari de Lleida and that last year was incorporated into the collection of

MORERA Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Lleida. Una sèrie de fotografies que retraten un conflicte universal repetit al llarg dels temps arreu del món: la disputa pel dret a existir i conrear la terra de les petites explotacions familiars davant del poder que representen les grans empreses agroalimentàries. L’any 2022 el Morera també va incorporar 292 polaroids de la sèrie Lo país de Maialussa de l’artista Àngel Jové (Lleida, 1940). Unes fotografies que Jové va realitzar l’any 1989 quan, juntament amb Carles Hac Mor i Benet Rossell, van viatjar durant deu dies per les terres de la Franja i el sud de Ponent i van generar el projecte ‘Lo país de Maialussa’. Les fotografies de Jové juntament amb un vídeo de Benet Rossell, Lo pedrís, i un text de Carles Hac Mor, Lo país de Maialussa, constitueixen el projecte a tres veus d’aquell viatge iniciàtic dels artistes contemporanis.

And following the museum’s commitment to expand the presence of photographic work in the collection this year, the artist Ignasi Prat (Sant Esteve de Palautordera, 1981) has also joined with four photographs from the series El mundo de los winners (2012-2014). This is a Francoist archeology project with the purpose of photographing the residences of the most important figures at the top of the various Francoist governments.

More formats in contemporary art

The Morera collection has also expanded the fund dedicated to new contemporary art formats. On the one hand, the artist Marga Ximenez (Barcelona, ​​1950) has joined with the sculptural installation Books and Homes created in 2017 under the heteronym of Sergio Galan, where the artist recreates a library containing books soft, made of life and recycled clothes, placed in wardrobes. A piece that tells us about the elderly, accommodated in residences in an orderly manner, without leaving room for their experiences, without being able to place themselves and manage the inevitable dialogue with the other generations. And, on the other hand, the audiovisual installation Bernat Pescaire listening to Suso (2022) by Alba Garcia Corral (Madrid, 1977). It is a production where the programming dialogues with the sound universe of the musician and composer Suso Saiz. Graphics and generative code become the brushes of the artist who generates an imaginary of an overwhelming chromatic richness and sketches that branch out creating improbable figures that refer to the territory where the artist currently lives, the Ebro Delta . All the acquisitions, of photography and of new formats, have been possible thanks to the Depositories of the National Collection of Contemporary Art of the Generalitat de Catalunya.