Colita

Isabel Steva i Hernández (24 August 1940 – 31 December 2023), whose pseudonym was Colita, was a Spanish photographer. She trained with Xavier Miserachs i Ribalta, and began her professional career in 1961 as a laboratory technician and stylist for Miserachs.

Colita died from peritonitis on 31 December 2023, at the age of 83.

Selected works Guia secreta de Barcelona (Secret Guide to Barcelona) (1974) Els cementiris de Barcelona (Barcelona's cemeteries) (1982) L'eixample de Barcelona (1982) (Barcelona's Example Neighborhood) in collaboration with Pilar Aymerich i Puig

Important exhibitions 1979: Espai 13 (Fundació Joan Miró) A rose is a rose, is a rose, is a rose, with Xavier Olivé 2014: Casa Milà, Colita perquè sí

Prizes and accolades 1998: Artistic Merit Prize from the Ajuntament de Barcelona 2004: Creu de Sant Jordi (Sant Jordi Cross) from the Generalitat de Catalunya 2008: Premi FAD Sebastià Gasch d'Arts Parateatrals (Sebastià Gasch FAD Prize for Paratheater Arts) 2009: Premi 1er. de Maig Joan Reventós a la memòria popular (Joan Reventós May 1 Prize for Popular Culture, Fundació Rafael Campalans 2009: Premi a la comunicació no sexista i a la trajectòria periodística (Non-sexist communication and journalist career prizes). Associació de Dones Periodistes de Catalunya (Women Journalists Association of Catalonia) 2012: Honoris Causa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Colita Collection Her work from 1962 to 2002 is conserved at the Museu de les Arts Escèniques (Museum of Performing Arts) of Barcelona. It contains 900 negatives and contact sheets, approximately 32,000 photographs of shows, portraits of artists and celebrities related to the performing arts, and related events. Her collection is registered and catalogued in an internal data base and is not accessible via the internet.

A part of her collection is also conserved in the National Archive of Catalonia. The collection comprises the portraits that Colita made throughout her career as a professional photographer. It is the result of her collaboration with various magazines, of assignments made by the subjects themselves, or simply, for the friendship she shared with them.

Among the great collection of personalities portrayed, we can highlight, among others, those dedicated to musicians and singers. Some of these portraits came out of special assignments. It's also important to point out the photographs taken, mostly in the 1970s, of the members of the Barcelona "Gauche Divine" movement. In addition to the portraits, Colita's collection also contains a series of journalistic photographs covering the social movements of the time. For example, the sit-in at Montserrat, the attack against the Enlace bookstore, the self-mutilations of the COPEL (Spanish inmates group), Catalonia's National Day of 11 September 1978, the ceremony and acts around Franco's death in Madrid, the burial of the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Josep Tarrardellas, and various events of the Socialist Party of Catalonia that took place during the 1980s.

Finally, a collection of 6,987 photographs that correspond to movies, actors, film shootings, and studio portraits is conserved in the Filmoteca de Catalunya (Catalonia Film Archive), including images from shooting Dante no es únicamente severo (Jacinto Esteva, 1968), Los Tarantos (Francesc Rovira-Beleta, 1963), and Tatuaje (Bigas Luna, 1976). A selection of these images is available in the Filmoteca de Catalunya's digital archive.

Legacy In a popular referendum in Palafrugell in March 2010, Colita was chosen as a woman who deserves to have a street named after her.