SECRET PLACES

This photographic proposal speaks of places that move us for reasons we cannot explain. In most cases, human understanding is unable to discern the reason why a specific space provokes different perceptions in the person who observes it or moves through it.

In fact, there are two ways of relating to a place. One is as a spectator, i.e. when looking at a place from a contemplative position without invading or modifying it, and the other, as an actor, when the person enters an environment by interacting with the space either involuntarily, e.g. by walking through it, or voluntarily with the purpose of modifying it.

Religious buildings, palaces, courthouses, ancient fortifications, and gardens are often examples of architectures and spaces expressly designed for this purpose: to impress those who visit them. Consider, for instance, the sensations we experience when visiting Hagia Sophia (Istanbul), Treptower Park (Berlin), or Sacsayhuamán (Cusco)…

Likewise, we find places where nature, spontaneously and supposedly without any intention, has achieved exactly the same effect. These sites have moved us and sometimes unsettled us: gentle landscapes, rugged mountains, threatening waterfalls, dizzying cliffs. Examples include Iguazú Falls (Argentina/Brazil), the Zugarramurdi Caves (Navarra), or the Beach of the Cathedrals (Galicia)… However, we must keep in mind that more modest places can provoke the same disturbances. Often, hidden spots in any bend of the path can possess as much or even more magnetism than grand monuments or spectacular wild landscapes.

Just as Stendhal syndrome overwhelms the mind through beauty, there are certain places that trigger emotions capable of unsettling one’s consciousness.

Science explains that emotions physiologically provoke reactions in the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system. The latter, unconsciously, releases hormones throughout the body, sometimes disturbing one’s sense of reason and, in an apparently magical way, transporting the person into a world of irrational sensations.

At the same time, learned knowledge rooted in a specific culture and time, and sensory emotions, which are more universal, combine in the mind to form a set of inputs that help the observer relate a place to cognitive references stored somewhere in the folds of their brain, provoking different states of mind. These disturbances can even lead to clinical symptoms ranging from simple dizziness to tachycardia or more severe diagnoses.

The photographs in this series refer to these enigmatic sensations that occur in places where chance or intention has shaped them in such a way that they affect the people who observe or wander through them, making them feel multiple perceptions without any apparent reason. Some are pleasant, soft, delicate, enjoyable; others uncertain, unsettling, repulsive, disturbing. Everything depends on the environment being observed and, on the person receiving the sensations of that particular place.

The tone of the blackandwhite images, together with the type of matte paper used, velvety in appearance, and the lowkey exposure emphasizing darkness, ultimately give the work a mysterious quality that invites the viewer to discover hidden details within the photographs.

SIZES: 40 X 40 cm on paper 50 x 60 cm

NUMBER OF IMAGES: 80 (in progress)
PAPER: Hahnemühlemat. Giclée copy