Unha forza do pasado
Multimedia screening. Camiño de Santiago, 2020.
“Unha Forza do pasado” (”A force from the past”) is the title of a poem by Pier Paolo Pasolini recited in the movie “La Ricotta” (1962), which is about a film crew working in the reenactment of the last days and Passion of Christ on a wasteland in Italy.
Looking at the metaphor contained in Camiño de Santiago (The Way of St. James) as a road that leads to death and rebirth, I attempted to connect and approach that story within a Christian mythology that was somehow alien to me. Most myths have a material basis on the real world; I was interested in the historical origin of this Pilgrimage linked to the expansion of Romanesque art in monuments, cathedrals and churches. Its primitive forms, the prominence of pagan elements such as plants and animals; the naive yet the complex. Knowing that this expressiveness was used for the sake of expanding the Christian political and militar power across the northern Iberian Peninsula, in a battle with Islam, in a time where a vast majority of the population was illiterate; therefore that sacred art served as an effective means of persuasion and transmission of ideas in opposition to “the enemy”. Our present time has much to do with these clashes from the past, having a history of repression and violence but also a richness coming from both cultures.
There are different routes that can be taken to make this pilgrimage and reach Santiago de Compostela; I focused on the Mozarabic route that starts in southern Andalucía and ends in northern Galicia. Tracing an imaginary space inspired by the christian and classical mythologies that sustain the idiosyncrasy of the path and through a series of encounters along, I attempted to recreate these ancestral ideas that seem perishing but still very alive.
These photographs are part of a multimedia screening included in the collective project “Visións do Camiño”, a touring public installation organized by Xacobeo 21-22 and the regional government of Galicia, Xunta de Galicia; offering a multidimensional view of this pilgrimage.
Curated by Nicolás Combarro and coordinated by Eva Seijas, the exhibition includes works by fellow photographers: Luis Díaz, Olivia Arthur, Lúa Ribeira, Cristina de Middel, Miguel Ángel Tornero, André Cepeda, Michel LeBelhomme, Carla Andrade and Iván Nespereira.