Taken by Juan Guzmán, the photograph of Marina Ginestà Coloma standing on the roof of the Hotel Colón in Barcelona, dressed as a soldier of the militia and staring defiantly into the camera with a rifle slung over her shoulder, is one of the most iconic portraits from the Civil War. The caption at the foot of the image, written for propaganda purposes, reads: “Barcelona, 21 July 1936. Miliciana Marina Jinesta, member of the Communist Youth, poses on the rooftop of the Hotel Colón, where a militia recruitment office has been set up”. During the war she worked as a journalist and translator, but with Franco’s victory ended up being incarcerated in a concentration camp. Released a couple of months later, she fled to France, from where she sailed to the Dominican Republic where she stayed until 1946, when she was once again forced into exile as a result of the persecution of Spanish republicans led by the dictator Rafael Trujillo. She returned to Barcelona when democracy was restored, and in 1976 published two award-winning novels: Els antípodes [The Antipodes] which won the Fastenrath prize at the Barcelona Floral Games in 1977, and En vindran d’altres [Others Will Come) winner of the Salvador Seguñi award at the Floral Games for the Catalan Language in exile.
A journalist and performer, she is featured in one of the iconic images of the Spanish Civil War by Juan Guzmán on the terrace of Barcelona's Hotel Colon carrying a gun on her back and dressed as a militia member.