Lanzarote

With this body of work I intend to document my experience and visionary interpretation of Lanzarote's landscape. I create a visual world to encourage the viewer to reflect on how landscape in general is, or should be understood today. By combining personal photographs of the island with hand-made collages, digitally manipulated images and archival photography, I embark on a intimate investigation of nature while acknowledging that, since the proliferation of digital technology, the way in which it is perceived and represented has dramatically changed in the past few years. What we are seeing in this series appears to be pure nature, with no trace of man whatsoever, and yet these images are entirely artificial, a man-made reverie of nature. The act of recycling a landscape into another one gives me at least the illusion of creating a brand new scenario therefore exempt of human experience. In depicting this undiscovered place, beyond space and time, the use of different techniques is fundamental to translate a feeling of in-betweenness into the photographic process too. The juxtaposition of traditional handmade collage with more complex and digitalized interventions make sure to place the artistic process in a limbo in the same way as nature is positioned in this uncertain historical and geological context. The archival animal-shaped sculptures represent the only inhabitants of Lanzarote. These creatures, made of the same matter as the earth, antique, noble and poor at the same time, are ancient and new, almost platonic concepts of future animals. Despite being made thousands of years ago, each sculpture is incredibly modern in its shape. Their stylized silhouette can definitely be compared to those of contemporary representations of animals. Besides, their funny features make a contrast with the melancholy and desolation provoked by each of the landscapes.