Pastel but glaring reddish, pinkish, violet and blueish shapes bathe in the Mediterranean sun. Gently outlined or almost disappearing into the bright sky and sea blue. At least color-wise. The form: geometric, brutalist, bold. Among the massive concrete shapes, volumes and lines, a single body: an attempt for a self-portait while “matching with the architecture”, as I call it.
My newest photographic series Relativity is an experiment on the verge between performance, staging, and bodily intervening in the built world.
Rewind to the 70s in Spain: La Muralla Roja, a par excellence example of a Mediterranean postmodern architecture, in a diametric contrast to today’s architectural leitmotiv of transparency, sustainability, greenery. Rising tall from a coastal cliff, the Red Wall, as the title translates in English, is the work of late Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill Levi.
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Together with a multidisciplinary team, Bofill has devoted two decades on designing series of buildings, collectively known as La Manzanera, a tourist resort in Calp, Alicante. Being part of this project, albeit a residential complex, La Muralla Roja reinterprets the Arab Mediterranean tradition of the kasbah. The monolithic fortress, whose appearance mirrors the opposite Rocka of Ifach, consists of a labyrinth-like geometric plan. It is based on grouping Greek cross typology elements and connecting them in an ensemble of patios. Crowned with flat roof terraces containing solariums, a swimming pool, and a sauna, the complex is undoubtedly an iconic work of architecture.
Captivated by its uniqueness, I decided to conquer the monumental geometry of the “kasbah’s walls”, by inserting my body in various positions and capturing the result in photography. Instead of nowadays “architecture follows nature”, my photographic motto is “body follows architecture”.
The idea was to blend myself into the architecture in both form and color, the accent being on the color. At times my body is dynamic, active, energetic, at others, calm, adopting, meditative. While it struggles to embrace the form, and is challenged by steep insurmountable stairs, the organic outlines of my body merge with the straight and strict lines of the space. My clothes borrow colors from the architecture palette; sometimes adopting even indistinguishable nuances. Like brushes of architecture’s color softly accentuating chosen elements.
And while the shapes and the volumes remain solid like a rock, I subvert their monumentality by my physical presence. “Matching with architecture”, if only in act, color and in a future prospect, which experimental results are yet to be seen.
I really like your concept. I think the ones that worked best had two main qualities. 1. Your body was straight and without curves .2. Your clothing colors seemed to blend with the colors of the architecture. It would be interesting to see a different series where the focus is the opposite........curvature of the body emphasized by clothing in color that is different from the architecture?
I really like your concept. I think the ones that worked best had two main qualities. 1. Your body was straight and without curves .2. Your clothing colors seemed to blend with the colors of the architecture. It would be interesting to see a different series where the focus is the opposite........curvature of the body emphasized by clothing in color that is different from the architecture?
