This 2024 marks the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution of 1934. The exhibition focuses on the Valencia of that turbulent year, captured by Luis Vidal Corella through his lens.

The October Revolution took place mainly in Asturias and Catalonia. These events were echoed in the city of Valencia with seven days of strike action, which led the government to declare a state of war. Photographer Luis Vidal Corella captured the social tension of the moment. Workers demonstrated their discontent with work stoppages, demonstrations and pickets.

Luis Vidal Corella (Valencia, 1900-1959) was the second generation of a saga of photographers. He was a press photographer and witness to Valencian reality for decades. He learned the trade from his father, Martín Vidal Romero, and by the age of 14 he was already carrying a camera. He worked for the ¨Diario de Valencia¨, which later would  become the ¨El Mercantil Valenciano¨. He was a contributor to Agencia EFE, ABC, El Ruedo and La Vanguardia and to sports newspapers such as Marca and Mundo Deportivo.

Luis Vidal captures the social tension of the moment, captured with a Zeiss Ernemann glass plate and wooden frame. Their images convey the reality that is being experienced on the street.

The exhibition is divided into six thematic blocks. The first one, dedicated to Luis Vidal Corella, brings us closer to the figure of the photographer, his work and the social tension of the time. His photographs become the memory of the facts, the historical documentation to be deciphered. A photojournalist of everyday life, a professional with no ideological link to the workers' struggle, he was also a photographer of revolutions during the days of October of 1934. In the rest of the blocks, Luis Vidal's photographs guide us through the background that led to the strike, the political situation, the political class, the riots around the city, the deployment of the Guardia Civil, cavalry forces and other army units throughout the city.

This exhibition is the result of an initiative by the Ateneo Republicano de Paterna (ARPA) and Carlos Vidal Ayala to showcase the photographic work of Luis Vidal during this turbulent period.

The exhibition will be inaugurated at 19h today by Ester Alba, Vice-Principal for Culture and Society of the Universitat de València; Carlos Vidal, grandson of Luis Vidal Corella; Óscar Navarro, curator of the exhibition; Francisco Collado, curator of the exhibition; and Carles Xavier López, director of the Rector Peset Hall of Residence.