"If your gaze can enter the hell of my images, without succumbing to the poison they contain, enter my world and you will be able to understand the light hidden in the depth of my shadows", confesses Diego Orlando Machimbarrena after winning the prestigious International Photography Award (IPA) in the fine arts category for his series La mirada de Goya. After decades in anonymity, this San Sebastian photographer based in Girona bursts onto the international scene with a project inspired by the dark symbolism of 19th-century Spain.

The award-winning series, created entirely in the Girona regions during three years of work, consists of ten photographs where women are "the main protagonists, invisible and present at the same time, evoking their submission to the norms and strict religion of the time, provoking deep and subtle sadness". In his creative process, Orlando reveals that "80% is the instant and 20% is digital retouching", seeking to provide "a wrapping of mystery and magic" that makes "a new dreamlike reality emanate". The photographer establishes a parallel between the "turbulent and revolutionary moments" that Goya reflected and the current situation: "They remind me of what we are experiencing today, both in my beloved Venezuela and here, in Girona. A time when, despite the loss of freedoms, creativity flows". With this recognition, Orlando, who decided to reinvent himself artistically after the age of fifty, proves that it is never too late to start new creative paths.