The Tacoronte City Council, through the Festivities Department, has organized an event to recognize the work of photographers linked to the history of the Fiestas del Cristo de los Dolores. This initiative aims to highlight the contribution of these professionals who, for decades, have preserved and disseminated the festive and social memory of the municipality.
Lely Díaz Bonilla, Fernando Meneses Martín, José González Hernández, Mila Castro Padrón, and Enrique Acosta Dorta, all with extensive careers, will be honored. Additionally, a posthumous recognition will be given to Luis Batista, known as «El Fotis», whose graphic work is a significant testimony to the social life of the region during the 20th century.
Under the title «Photographers in the Context of the Tacoronte Cristo Festivities», the council values the work of those who, from the 1920s to the present day, have documented the various manifestations of these festivities with their cameras, capturing their protagonists and the most relevant moments of each edition. Their images have graced posters, festival programs, and publications, serving as a record of the evolution of these celebrations.
The program also includes a photographic exhibition dedicated to the life and work of Luis Batista «El Fotis», which will be open throughout September at the Casa de la Cultura de Tacoronte. Born in Valle de Guerra in 1924, Batista worked as a traveling photographer between the 1950s and 1970s, leaving behind thousands of photographs of great documentary value.
The exhibition, curated by photographer Enrique Acosta Dorta, features images recovered and digitized by «El Fotis»'s family. A selection of this photographic heritage, loaned by his relatives, will become part of the municipality's image archive for its conservation and dissemination.
Through this initiative, the Tacoronte City Council aims to honor those who have acted as «notaries of memory», documenting the evolution of the Cristo Festivities and Tacoronte society itself. Both the tribute and the exhibition are part of the 2026 Fiestas del Cristo de los Dolores program.
