A Catalan counterpart to the lineage of street photographers which includes Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand and fellow countryman Francesc Català Roca, self-taught Joan Colom, who won the National Award for photography in 2002, is something of a national treasure these days, heralded as a skilled documenter of the Barcelona working class during the Franco regime.

The 76 photos at Fundació Foto Colectania, selected by Colom himself, divide into three series: from the brothels of Raval in The Street, to the market traders of El Born, and finally, the inhabitants of “El Somorrostro,” the Gypsy neighborhood in Poble Nou which eventually became the grounds for the polemic Parc del Fòrum. With Álbum, Colom has compiled a disarming and still resonant photo-essay on the many changing faces of the city.

colectania.es