Ouka Leele

Ouka Leele. Spanish photographer Bárbara Allende a.k.a. Ouka Leele (Madrid, 1957) was initially inclined towards painting as a means of artistic expression. She studied Fine Arts, which she abandoned to begin studying piano while attending the Madid institution Photocentro to learn photography. She was one of the main protagonists and portraitists of the Madrid Movida of the early 1980s. Self-taught, her characteristic black and white photographs, hand-painted in watercolor, stand out. In 2005 her career was recognized with the Spanish National Photography Award.