Hundreds of pictures dangle to dry at a laboratory, fragile reminders of birthday celebrations and summer season holidays practically swept away by final yr’s lethal floods in Spain. But due to a university-led initiative, many of those recollections have been rescued from break.
Decked in white lab coats and masks to guard themselves from mould and different contaminants, a bunch of scholars at a laboratory at Valencia’s Polytechnic University rigorously clear and restore images.
An indication subsequent to a pile of mud-stained photograph albums that sits by the doorway warns: “Do not contact. Contaminated materials.”
Nearby, a pile of empty photograph albums nonetheless bears traces of the mud that swept via components of the Mediterranean area of Valencia throughout the torrential rains of October 29, 2024, killing greater than 200 individuals and destroying 1000’s of houses.
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In the chaos that adopted, a wave of volunteers rushed to assist residents clear up the 800,000 tonnes of particles left by Spain’s deadliest pure catastrophe in a era and salvage what they may.
“We began getting calls from college students who had been serving to within the affected areas and observed that total albums of pictures had been being thrown away,” mentioned Esther Nebot, a professor on the college and the co-director of the challenge Salvem les fotos (“Let’s Save the Photos”).
“Those identical college students started amassing pictures of their backpacks,” she added, pointing to the freezers the place the broken photographs had been saved earlier than being painstakingly restored.
A pupil walks previous the challenge presentation poster on the University of Fine Arts in Valencia the place private paperwork and pictures which were broken by mud are cleaned and restored in Valencia on October 2, 2025. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP)
‘Incredibly satisfying’
Since the challenge started, roughly 340,000 photographs have handed via the lab.
Volunteers, college students, donors and professors have restored about 75 p.c of them.
“The catastrophe precipitated huge losses on the documentary and historic degree, and above all on the social degree,” Nebot mentioned.
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“Many objects do not have financial worth, and even historic significance, however they carry immense emotional weight.”
Using a small brush and a bucket of more and more murky water, doctoral pupil Ruth Acuña delicately cleans a black-and-white {photograph}, faintly exhibiting the portrait of a girl.
The 25-year-old, who has been with the challenge for the reason that starting, mentioned she was conscious of the accountability of dealing with the recollections of households who’ve already misplaced a lot.
“Sometimes you see a photograph and suppose, ‘this would possibly not survive,’ and instantly it comes out excellent,” she mentioned. “It’s extremely satisfying.”
The University of Valencia is in control of a serious challenge to scrub and restore pictures that households have misplaced throughout the tragic flood that killed greater than 230 individuals on October 29, 2024. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP)
‘Cried lots’
At a close-by desk, different college students rigorously dismantle warped albums or disinfect and clear pale pictures, which had been then hung to dry.
The most delicate prints, principally in black and white, are flattened between cardboard sheets to stop curling.
Some photographs are so broken that faces are practically unrecognisable. Others, nevertheless, have begun to inform fragments of life as soon as extra.
“It’s very rewarding to scrub images and, particularly once they’re badly broken, see a face emerge,” mentioned pupil Andrea Baldwin, gently wiping a photograph with cotton.
“It fulfils you to know households can see these recollections once more collectively.”
In an adjoining room, two college students digitise and categorise the pictures, making ready them to be returned to their homeowners in a format just like their authentic albums.
Nebot, the co-director of the challenge, mentioned the second when restored images are returned to households — some nonetheless with out houses — are sometimes very emotional.
“We have cried lots,” she mentioned.
“We put aside time to indicate them how we dealt with their images, and it is also a solution to thank them for his or her belief.”
Article by Rosa Sulleiro
