Cartas al Director – Cristina de Middel

A striking catalogue of journalistic gesture and photographic inquiry.

In this monumental work, Cristina de Middel reinterprets the act of writing “letters to the editor” as a potent tool of narrative subversion and photographic storytelling. Conceived as both a book and an exhibition companion, this boxed set unfolds with the graphic logic of a newspaper, echoing the aesthetics of mass media while challenging its conventions. Within the box lie four distinct bodies of work — Journey to the Center, Gentlemen’s Club, The Kabuler, and Vida y milagros de Paula P. — each a fragment of her long-standing inquiry into power, gender, conflict, and constructed realities.

De Middel assembles newsprint, photography, and visual essays in an oversized, sculptural format, inviting the reader to navigate the layered zones between information and fiction. The piece recalls her early career as a photojournalist while pushing the limits of what documentary form can be. Designed with bold typographies, wrap-around folds, and varied print formats, Cartas al Director becomes a letter of its own: open-ended, sharp, and deeply personal.

• Object: Artist Book / Boxed Set
• Title: Cartas al Director
• Artist / Author: Cristina de Middel
• Date: 2023
• Technique / Printing Method: Offset, folded inserts
• Medium / Materials: Paper, card, box
• Edition: Not specified
• Signed: No
• Dimensions: 32 × 22 cm
• Language: Spanish / English
• Pages: Approx. 120–190 (varies by component)
• Publisher / Editor: Consejería de Cultura, Turismo y Deporte (Madrid)
• ISBN: 978-84-451-4066-6