During festivals, we often applaud the figures, the dances, the music, the fire and all those moments that move us. But we rarely stop to think about the people behind them. Who imagined them? Who drew them? Who was able to give shape and soul to something that, over the years, we have come to feel as our own?

This time, at Espai Robafaves, we want to focus precisely on that. On the person, the artist and a career that has left a profound mark on our Festa Major.

This window display is our small tribute to Nefer Rovira. 👹🌙

More than forty years leaving her mark on Les Santes

To talk about Nefer Rovira is to talk about an artist whose work has been closely connected to the visual identity of Les Santes for more than four decades.

Her work appears at different moments in the recent history of Mataró’s Festa Major:

• 1981 – Les Santes poster
• 1985 – Costumes of the Diablesses de Mataró
• 1992 – Illustrated Auca and cut-out book Els Gegants i els Nans de Mataró
• 2021 – New costumes for the Diablesses

Works created at very different moments, but all sharing the same distinctive artistic vision and becoming part of the memories of several generations of people in Mataró.

When an artwork becomes part of a city

Some creations eventually become more than the work of the person who first imagined them. Over the years, people make them their own, incorporate them into their memories and they become part of the identity of a festival.

Perhaps that is exactly what has happened with part of Nefer Rovira’s work.

We have watched the Diablesses take to the streets, grown up with the Gegants and Nans, and seen posters and illustrations that have become familiar to us... so familiar that we can almost forget that one day, there was someone sitting in front of a blank sheet of paper who imagined them for the very first time.

And behind that work was an artist.

The person behind the work

That is why this window display is not only about what Nefer Rovira has created.

It is also about perseverance, sensitivity, creativity and a very personal way of understanding art. About continuing to create, explore and leave her own distinctive mark over the years.

Her career extends far beyond what we could ever explain in a single window display or in these few lines. Nor is that our intention.

We simply want to do something much simpler: stop for a moment, look back and say thank you.

A tribute from Espai Robafaves

Since we started this space, we have been fortunate enough to welcome fire beasts, giants, costumes and festive elements from different parts of Catalonia.

But popular culture would not exist without the people who imagine it, create it and help it evolve.

That is why we also believe it is important to open our window display to its creators. To put names and faces to the people behind everything that later fills our streets.

And beginning with Nefer Rovira has a very special meaning for us.

There are artists a city should never forget

More than forty years after that 1981 Les Santes poster, her work continues to take to the streets, continues to form part of the festival and continues to stir emotions.

And that is probably one of the most beautiful things that can happen to an artist’s work: time passes, but what they created remains alive.

That is why this window display is, quite simply, our way of saying:

Thank you, Nefer. ❤️🌙

For your work, for your vision and for the mark you have left — and continue to leave — on Les Santes.

Because there are artists a city should never allow itself to forget.

And this is not the end...

This tribute is only one part of the story.

Because if there is one thing we have learned over the years, it is that we love recovering, imagining and breathing new life into the things we love.

And for now, we will only tell you one thing:

Get ready, because WE’RE DOING IT AGAIN! 👹🌙

New for Les Santes 2026.

CULTURE, TRADITION AND FUN!

📸 Photography: @carinyo_foto and @ferranmp_cat

📌 Image rights reserved exclusively for @robafaves_cat. No other use or reproduction is permitted without prior authorisation.