Fons Ruiz

Images in collection

Ruiz fonds

Miquel Ruiz Avilés (Granada, 1954)
Press photographer

The images in this fonds, in colour and in black and white, were mostly taken by Miquel Ruiz during his career as photographer and photojournalist between 1979 and 1999. The photographs record the leisure activities and the social, political and cultural life in Girona province.

In 1979, Miquel Ruiz joined the photography team as a correspondent for the new El Punt newspaper in Girona. Previously, he had worked for some time as a self-taught creative photographer.
His subsequent career as a photographer, apart from several exhibitions and publications, led him to work for various newspapers and other publications. He worked as photo correspondent for El Periódico de Catalunya from 1983 to 1987, after which he did sporadic work for Avui i a les revistes Lecturas, Interviú, Cambio 16, Bunte, Actual and Covert magazines. From 1986 to 1988 he worked as photojournalist for El País newspaper and, in September 1986, he also began to work for EFE agency as correspondent for Girona province. In 1987 he worked as a photojournalist for L¿Empordà Federal, a monthly publication on which he was also a member of the editing board and head of the photography section. In 1989 he joined the network of El Observador, photojournalists, where he stayed until 1994.

In 1993 he co-founded Photographers for Peace association, of which he is currently Chairperson.

Furthermore, in 1994, he joined the staff of photojournalists on El Mundo a Catalunya, newspaper in Catalonia, and a year later started as a photojournalist for the Girona edition of La Vanguardia, newspaper, where he stayed until 1999.

Outstanding images in this fonds are over 1,200 slides on the Nicaraguan Contra taken in 1987, a 1991 photo project on Greece linked to the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, a project on the Israel-Palestine conflict in 1987-1988, and several features taken during the war in Bosnia.

Area of identification

Reference code

CAT INSPAI 10

Level of description

Collection

Title

Ruiz fonds

Date(s)

Date of creation: 1955 Date of aggregation: 2008

Volume and support

112,053 photographs (102,965 plastic-polyester negatives, b/w and colour, 35 mm; 7,729 slides, 560 paper positives and 799 digital images))

Context area

Name of producer(s)

Miquel Ruiz i Avilés

Producer history

Miquel Ruiz was born on 13 March 1954 in Purullena de Guadix (Granada), the son of labourer Miguel Ruiz Romero and Encarnación Avilés Mendoza, both from Purullena de Guadix. His family came to Catalonia when he was one year old, settling first in the village of Riumors and moving to Fortià in 1958. Ruiz is a self-taught photographer who began his career as a professional photojournalist in 1979 when he joined the photography team of the new Punt Diari newspaper in Girona. Starting as the correspondent for Fortià, he moved to the Figueres delegation in 1982, and continued working for the Punt Diari until 1990. Since then, he has worked for several other publications such as El Observador, El Mundo, and La Vanguardia, providing graphic coverage for events taking place in Girona province, mainly in Alt Empordà and Baix Empordà counties. He collaborated with El Periódico de Catalunya as a photojournalist from 1983 to 1987, and with El País newspaper from 1986 to 1988. Since September 1986, he has been working as Girona province correspondent for EFE agency. From 1987 on, he has collaborated sporadically with other newspapers and magazines such as Avui, Lecturas, Interviú, Cambio 16, Bunte, Actual and Covert. He is the graphics editor of L¿Empordà Federal, as well as director of photography and member of the editorial board. From 1989 to 1994, he joined El Observador network of photojournalists. In 1994, he joined the network of photojournalists for the Catalan edition of El Mundo newspaper. From 1995 to 1999, he contributed as a photographer to the Girona edition of La Vanguardia newspaper. In 1999, he returned to El Punt newspaper (formerly Punt Diari), where he worked until 2010. While he was working as a photographer on local and Catalan publications, Ruiz also carried out several photographic reports and international projects in Cuba, Nicaragua, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Israel and Palestine, Sri Lanka, and Liberia. In 2010, he suffered a stroke. From 2010 to 2012, he worked on «Urban Corpses» photographic project.

Archive history

Before entering the INSPAI Image Centre, the images in this fonds were conserved in Miquel Ruiz¿s family home and in the archives of the publications for which he worked. The material created for La Vanguardia was conserved by the newspaper until completion of the contract between the parties, at which stage the original negatives were returned to the photographer. On entering INSPAI Image Centre, the fonds was placed in archive boxes and a general description of the content was made. By 2008, the material was fully digitised. From 2008 to 2009, the photographic reports were organised, classified and described (UDC).

Details of entry

The contract agreeing to loan for use and subsequent donation of the Ruiz photographic fonds was signed between the photographer and the Diputació de Girona on 6 March 2007. The donation was formally accepted by Diputació de Girona Governing Board at a meeting held on 21 December 2010.

Content area and structure

Scope and content

The images in the Ruiz fonds document political, social, cultural, sports and other events taking place in Girona province from 1979 to the present day. They were captured by Ruiz in the course of his work as a photojournalist for local publications such as Punt Diari (later El Punt) (1979-1990, 1999-2010), L¿Empordà Federal (dates?), El Observador (1989-1994) and La Vanguardia (1995-1999). An exceptional number of the images were taken for La Vanguardia. The fonds also includes a set of family photographs from 1955 to the present day. Outstanding among the travel images are: 1982: Trip to Cuba. 1987: Report for El Periódico newspaper on the ¿Contra¿ armed struggle against the Sandinista movements in Nicaragua and its effects on children. The report consists of images of children and of the military presence in small villages. 1987-1988: Report on the Israel-Palestine conflict, containing images of daily life in the war torn zones of Bethlehem, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. 1993-2012: In 1993, together with other photographers, Ruiz sets up Fotògrafs per la Pau (¿Photographers for Peace¿), an NGO dedicated to cooperation with countries in conflict, of which he was president until 2012. His outstanding photographic reports from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, notably in Sarajevo, during the Yugoslav Wars (1992-1995) document the effects of the armed conflict: ruined buildings, refugee camps, the UN Peace Corps, cemeteries, daily life in Sarajevo and other towns, and so on. Ruiz collaborates with the efforts of Oslobo¿enje newspaper to continue publishing throughout the conflict, and helps to rebuild the city after the war. 1995-2006: Photographic reports from post-war Bosnia as a means of raising awareness and educating for peace. 2005-2006: Photographic reports after the tsunami in Southeast Asia as a means of raising public awareness and collecting money for repairing schools in Kinniya and Trincomalee (Sri Lanka). May 2008. Travels to Liberia, where he carries out a report on malaria. July 2008 and July 2009. Presents the two parts of a report project entitled Srebrenica, the silence of memory.

Conditions for access and use area

Conditions for access

Free access documentation.