Photographer Txema Salvans has released a compelling new monograph titled Sunday Morning, published by EditorialRM, that captures a decade-long exploration of contemporary leisure on the margins of Barcelona. For ten consecutive years, Salvans positioned himself on the roof of his van every sunny Sunday at noon to photograph people gathering in a Carrefour supermarket parking lot on the city's outskirts. This unlikely setting, simultaneously empty and absurd, became the stage for his investigation into how urban peripheries host practical routines, quiet breaks, and silent attempts to suspend time. The hardcover book features 99 images across 128 pages, with text contributions by Pepe Baeza and design by Opisso studio, measuring 26 x 30 centimeters in an English-language edition available for 45 euros, 50 dollars, or 40 pounds.
The Carrefour parking lot represents a quintessential non-place in contemporary urbanism, yet Salvans transforms this banal environment into a rich visual symphony. His consistent methodology over a decade reveals the hidden poetics embedded in everyday life, particularly how communities on the urban fringe create meaning in spaces not designed for gathering. The photographs document families sharing meals in their cars, individuals seeking solitude in a sea of asphalt, and groups engaging in impromptu social rituals. Through patience and unwavering commitment, Salvans demonstrates how the most ordinary locations can become sites of profound human connection and temporary escape from structured urban existence.
Salvans's approach combines documentary rigor with artistic sensibility, creating images that function both as social records and aesthetic compositions. The elevated perspective from his van roof provides a consistent vantage point that emphasizes the geometric patterns of the parking lot while capturing intimate details of human behavior. This visual strategy transforms the repetitive nature of the location into a canvas where subtle variations in light, shadow, and human arrangement tell nuanced stories about class, geography, and contemporary Spanish society. The photographer's decade-long dedication reveals how temporal consistency can uncover layers of meaning invisible to casual observation.
The book's themes resonate deeply with current discussions about urban peripheries, social space, and the commercialization of leisure. By focusing on a supermarket parking lot rather than traditional plazas or parks, Salvans challenges conventional notions of where community life occurs. His work suggests that in modern cities, gathering spaces emerge organically in the interstices of consumer infrastructure. The images reflect a silent quest to reclaim time and space from the demands of work and urban density, showing how ordinary people transform functional landscapes into places of rest and social connection. This perspective offers valuable insights for urban planners, sociologists, and anyone interested in the evolving nature of public life.
EditorialRM's production quality elevates the photographs through thoughtful sequencing and Opisso studio's clean, unobtrusive design. The large format allows viewers to absorb the rich details within each frame, while Pepe Baeza's text provides contextual depth without overwhelming the visual narrative. The book's structure mirrors the methodical nature of Salvans's process, creating a rhythm that encourages contemplative viewing. As an object, Sunday Morning demonstrates how contemporary photobooks can function as both art publications and social documents, deserving space on coffee tables and in academic libraries alike.
The cultural significance of Sunday Morning extends beyond its immediate subject matter to address universal questions about how humans inhabit and repurpose their environments. Salvans's work belongs to a tradition of photography that finds beauty and meaning in overlooked aspects of modern life, following in the footsteps of artists who documented suburban landscapes and commercial vernacular architecture. For Barcelona residents, the book offers a mirror to their city's hidden dimensions, while international audiences gain insight into broader patterns of European urban development. Ultimately, Sunday Morning stands as a testament to photography's power to reveal the extraordinary within the ordinary, transforming a decade of Sunday afternoons into a lasting meditation on contemporary existence.
