Portraits of a Neighbourhood exhibition in Bilbao
46 portraits and much more to help you discover the neighbourhoods of San Francisco, Bilbao La Vieja and Zabala through the lens of photographer Bego Elexpe.
The exhibition marks a new phase in the legendary SanFran, Bilbi and Zabala project, which, having been independent for several years, is now fully integrated into ExpoDistrito 2025.
Portraits of a Neighbourhood is an opportunity to get to know those of us who live, work and socialise in San Francisco, Bilbao La Vieja and Zabala. A campaign that seeks to reflect the social and commercial reality of our neighbourhoodsby inviting people to be photographed and to shop in them.
The exhibition immerses us in the essence of Bilbao’s historic neighbourhoods through 46 powerful photographs that capture the diversity, vitality and authenticity of their inhabitants and shops.
The project began in 2020 when the two associations began working with one another, and over the years it has grown and reinvented itself in an effort to reflect the rich social, commercial and cultural reality of our neighbourhoods. Now, in 2025, not only is it being revived as part of EXPODISTRITO, the municipal exhibition programme, but the different photographs of the protagonists and subjects portrayed are being brought together in a single exhibition.
The faces and gazes of different shopkeepers, customers and ambassadors provide a visual experience that transports us to the fascinating neighbourhoods of San Francisco, Bilbao La Vieja and Zabala, and seeks to convey how it is our responsibility as consumers to promote the common good by consuming in a responsible, ethical and value-based way.
The aim of its creators was, and still is, to extend the project to the entire city as a way to showcase and raise people’s awareness of this part of the city. This is why the exhibition is being presented in several of Bilbao’s District Centres throughout 2025, so that the city’s residents and visitors can discover the neighbourhoods and their inhabitants.
