Peluquería - Ouka Leele

Peluquería is the first book dedicated to late Spanish photographer Ouka Leele’s formative years in Barcelona and her portraits of the city’s underground scene. Widely celebrated as a key figure of the Movida Madrileña, Leele settled in Barcelona one year before the country’s official turn to democracy. The improvised ‘hair salon’ referred to by the series’ title gathers legends of the counterculture movement at this moment of extraordinary freedom, marked by the playful, defiant objects on their heads. Peluquería’s electric colours, unique for the era, are achieved through Leele’s innovative use of watercolours, which she painted onto her black-and-white prints by hand. Original sketches that inspired the series, as well as previously unpublished writings by Leele are presented alongside contact sheets newly unveiled by the artist’s archive. Reflections by Javier Mariscal, one of the first artists photographed for Peluquería, and Rossy de Palma, an icon of Spanish cinema, honour Leele’s poetic vision, while essays by Pepe Ribas and Elisa Medde mine the radical landscape that informed Leele’s early work.

Ouka Leele (Madrid, 1957), born Bárbara Allende Gil de Biedma, is a Spanish photographer and a fixture of the Movida Madrileña. She is renowned for the distinct visual language she pioneered with her work, beginning with the Peluquería series, in which she transformed black-and-white prints by painting them with vivid watercolours. She was awarded the 2004 Culture Prize by the Community of Madrid and the Spanish National Photography Prize in 2005.

• Published by: Apartamento Publishing S.L.
• First edition: November 23, 2026
• Dimensions: 22.80 × 29.40 cm / 8.98 × 11.57 in
• Binding: Hardcover
• Pages: 108