The marsh of Monastir (in Tunisia) is a favorable environment for a delegation of migratory birds such as "flamingos", as well as many other types of birds such as ducks and various types of gulls. Despite the construction of the airport and the metro line that crosses the marsh, the birds have remained attached to this ecological station and have not abandoned it. One of the characteristics of this bird is that it forms incubators, as some husbands stay to guard the chicks, while the others start bringing food from nearby slums and distant places to return to their seat to feed their young at sunset. This place is then associated with birth, fertility and life.

Due to the sewage being poured into this lake, the number of birds gradually decreased and the birds' nests became empty.

This problem inspired me to create my project. According to different cultures, the egg is considered a symbol of life, fertility and the victory of the love of life over the darkness of death. According to Finnish legend, the egg is the beginning of the universe or the beginning in which the universe was born.

The legend says that the goddess "Luonnotar" spent her life alone in the vast emptiness of space.  Then she fell from the sky to the earth. Then the seagull came from the distant horizon, and on her lap she built her nest. Then the goddess felt a heat flowing through her body, as if her knee was burning and her veins were melting, the bird laid her eggs on her knee, which trembled, then the eggs rolled on the water and were broken. From the lower part of the eggs was formed the earth, mother of all beings; from their upper part, the sublime sky; from their yellow parts, the radiant sky; from their white part, the bright moon; their speckled debris became stars; their black debris the clouds of the air. "Luonnotar" continued the process of creation, creating the seas, bays and shores, and the depths of the oceans.

From this legend I began my project . I made a sculpture in the shape blue phoenix with two large wings protruding from its head, The phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection and life after death but this time the bird is weak and his heart is bleeding , I chose the blue to be in harmony with the blue of the sky and the marshes, and to contrast with the color of the ground. Then I distributed a group of gypsum eggs among the marsh grass, indicating that this place is the source of life, fertility and birth so we should protect it and stop polluting it . I colored the eggs blue, referring to male birth, pink to female birth, and purple gradient, which is the mix between pink and blue for other sexual orientations. Then I took photographs of the installation to document it, as the final work will be in the form of photographs, as I have no desire to leave the installation in the marsh or to make the marsh an open exhibition space where I wish to preserve the purity and tranquility of the place and its vitality without leaving a trace, as I am ultimately interested in the images that perpetuate the trace.

The Bondi Icebergs is a much, photographed iconic place. The pool was built in the late 1930’s so local swimmers and life savers could maintain their fitness during the winter months – hence the name. Much has been written about swimming pools being great equalizers in terms of their appeal to all ages, of all shapes and sizes, and social classes, as well as being captivating sites for people watching. For me, The Icebergs is a place of solace, a time for clearing the mind while swimming, a time for quiet and reflection while watching the surf, the changing life on the beach in the distance. It holds a sense of being together while simultaneously being in a bubble of solitude.

It is inspiring to see people, at least in their 70s, still swimming throughout the year, and this display of stoicism and is one of the reasons I chose to move to the area. The Icebergs is deeply embedded within the community, as well as welcoming to those from afar. It’s a social place with its club membership, and races held every Sunday throughout Winter, as well as a bustling community venue. A free walkway affords spectators a closer view, while an entry fee is required for the pool, but still I see it as a public space reflected and used by so many - a locus of community.

The Parklet  in Bologna is a space for people, it is a combination of human-oriented design with nature-based solutions. It is a pleasant and unexpected opporunity to enjoy the street as a real public space, in between a long line of cars. It hosts daily activities of the neighbourhood, for family, kids, elderly, small events and temporary art installations from local residents. Very attractive and with a unique atmosphere.

I have always live near my city´s park. It is a park that unfolds along the riverbank, on a long walk made of pink and grey tiles on the high zone, and sand, brushes and giant trees on the low one.

A park is a peculiar place from which to observe a city. Since I was a little child I watch the passerby from my window and think about it as a kaleidoscope, through which the city reveals itself in its most anomalies shapes and most intensive colors.

In the park the city and its inhabitants dress up (dresses printed with flowers and phosphorescent sport-wear), they play at being what they are not, and at the same time  (thanks to these masks) they undress, they move and allow themselves to breath in a way that they are no allow to do it on the sidewalks and urbanized streets. They seem to be disoriented or lost, uncomfortable due to the absence of traffic noise and the rowdy singing of birds.

Since I was a child, I also sometimes became a walker (the always ephemeral inhabitant of a park). There was once when I got lost in the park. In the middle of a tantrum I started running furiously. When I realized that I was alone I started to cry. Now I think that my tears were also caused  by a subtle emotion: I was feeling at the brink of a possible adventure, as those lonely children who star in the tales of witches and ogres. 

This photo was taken during the 2020´s pandemic, when all the country was confined. During most than a month the park remained closed, fenced off by police ribbons (as if a crime has been committed). Then, we were allowed to go out just for hour. During those days, from my window, I observed this couple sitting in the same  bank, observing, in turn  together in silence the park  still deserted and savage, as is after years (maybe a entire life) of absence they have found  again. And I, after all this time (my entire life), in a certain way, I found my-self reflected in them.

  A place is where you live.

Space in space

Signboards, arrows and so on are not always leading you to the destination. A place definition may change by passing times.

Experience with the place

That day was superb, the Sun was radiant and the water of that small beach moved slowly, the peace of that place could almost be touched.
Behind me, the love of my life at that moment was waiting, hugging me while I took the picture. I have never felt as loved as that time.

The road continues, and I can't stop. Halfway there, some small clouds alert me that obstacles will appear, and it is impossible for me to spend a few seconds contemplating the sobriety of the frozen mountains in the background, I think of the hardness of being there but I am able to feel the solitude of those mountains .

Today, right now, I am at the top of one of those mountains and I allow myself the luxury of looking back to remember that day, when I was being hugged by her.
I look around, I know, I'm alone, she left years ago.
Now I look under my feet: 'I am very high!'
It has taken me so long to get here, I have had to overcome many obstacles, but I have succeeded.

I feel happy to have reached the top of the mountain, I feel strong and proud of myself. It is time to look ahead, I remember that I cannot stop on this vital path, but as I go down the mountain I can see in the distance a small beach.. I don't know what I will find there, not even when I will arrive, maybe someone will hug me again like her that day, maybe that will never happen again.

But I don't care what will happen, now I understand the life is just an ordered set of moments, and I am going to live all of them, because they are so fleeting ...

Brief explanation of the text

The contrast of the beauty of a small beach with the sobriety of the frozen mountains in the background is not just a combination that evokes peace, love and inspiration ... this image represents the road of life.

Life is made up of good and not so good moments, this image represents for me the contrast between those very different moments, it reminds me that we have to live them all because life never stops and that in the brevity of those moments there is always a lesson that we can learn.

A place only can be defined with its users.

Monday, 8:22am. I go out to the streets and it is evident how the pace of the city has awakened already: the streets are full with people in their work attires, suits and dresses, and parents walking their children to school. There are various people who wake up early to get intoxicated, a few nurses with their white attires sits in the step of their hospital entrance to smoke their cigarettes.

The city is waking up, some already at full pace, some buildings just opening their eyes with their particular sound of running metal blinds: rahh…. rahh…. rahh… most residents are able to accomplish the opening it with three pullings of the cord. People in the phone talking to other awaken people on the other side, about the frenetic rhythm of life: the groceries they need to do, the architecture project they are working on, what the boss said, the meeting of this afternoon, or talking to their loved ones with a smile on their face. The rhythm is constant, fast, contagious. It is hard to find frustrated faces, they just do what they have to do, preoccupied with making it on time, don’t arriving late, and fulfilling their commitments for this busy urban morning.

I took that pictutre because it is the first time in 22 years that living  in that place that i can feel the happiness of the people. Normally it is usually full of cars and it is impossible to walk through it. The photograph was taken from my balcony in Madrid  this winter in January.

Dirty, gray and full of graffiti tags, Bratislava’s post-soviet look carries an air of nostalgia and suffering which is not cleaned nor relieved yet. Architecture is a mix of 1970s to present buildings. Some modernist such as the inverted pyramid of the radio station, all the way back to medieval structures still incrusted within the city reminding us that even though Slovakia is a relatively new constituted country, its physical environment has a much longer history.

Like in other small European towns, the castles, government buildings or palaces -the elite- is literally above the people, in the highest hill or the highest part of the city like if overseeing the people… sometimes protecting them, sometimes controlling them.

One breathes heavy air in a city that still carries in the soul the weight of Nazi atrocities. It is common to find metal plaques around the city in memory of persons or families that were sent to concentration camps. There is one metal plaque of an artist called Adolf Frankl (ironically an Adolf), who, with some non-Jewish Slovaks, was arrested on September 28, 1944. Following a stay in the concentration camp in Sered, Slovakia, he was later deported to the extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. Luckily, he was liberated and he survived. After his liberation he depicted his experiences in a collection of paintings and drawings called appropriately “Visions from the inferno”. The plaque reads: “through my works I’ve created a memorial for all nations of the world. No one, regardless of religion, race, or political conviction, should ever again suffer such -or similar- atrocities”. The Frankl family expresses their heartfelt gratitude to all who helped them and others, to survive the Holocaust.

I stopped to think at this outlook, from this place overseeing Bratislava, trying to image the scenes. Many buildings I saw, they keep constructing, keep progressing on the march of civilization… oh how very uncivilized -I thought- we still are as human beings who kill its own kind.