Seville: A Photographic Interlude

When I arrived back to the UK last week, after six glorious weeks exploring a few small parts of the world, my DSLR (which I’d gradually abandoned in favour of my lighter, faster iPhone) died.

Or rather the lens gave up. I think the camera body might possibly be ok…I hope.

For the past year it’s been behaving rather oddly – occasional temper tantrums and an unusual arching smear that sometimes blemished the top left hand corner of photographs.

Seems strange, almost considerate, that the lens would wait until I returned to finally give in.

In many of the pictures you can see how the image quality is declining. However, in tribute to my ailing camera/lens I thought I’d share some of the photographs it captured in Seville, on that first, hazy, rainy day.

 I find it interesting that we all favour particular photographic subjects and scenes over others. I like trees. One of the best parts of travelling to different countries was admiring all the different species – their shapes, leaves and, in many cases, their bare leafless branches, reaching into the air like spindly veins. Seville was, perhaps one of the greener, leafier places I visited during those long cold February days.

The Parque de Maria Luisa was a wonderful place to admire trees. Seville had several fantastic parks, and, being more accustomed to formal, ordered British parks I enjoyed the slightly more lavish feel of their Spanish equivalent.

Rainy weather often brings out the luminous hues of leaves and plants, which is what I experienced during the early part of my Spanish visit. After the bleak, barren landscapes that winter fosters in Northern England, it was a great pleasure to find vast swathes of green here. Even if the weather was somewhat dull.

Undoubtedly this tree, at the Cartuja Monastry/CAAC, was one of my absolute favourites.

As I’ve mentioned, the tiled designs across the city were always a pleasure to stumble upon. Likewise there were also more contemporary highlights within Seville’s landscape, such as the Metropol Parasol (below) which I’ll talk about some more later on.

Travelling really made me think about the nature and purpose of photography. The ubiquitous army of mobile phone wielding photographers, and the slowly shrinking crowds of point and shooters. It’s almost as if sights, places, experiences are palatable only if captured in pixels. I fell into the same trap myself, obsessed with getting shots I liked, intent on consuming the places I visited on a digital screen.

The predictable trappings of being a tourist I suppose.

Unsurprisingly, however, the most enjoyable and interesting experiences happened when my iPhone was tucked in my pocket; my DSLR either in my bag or stowed in the hostel lockers. Funnily enough these experiences feel more ‘mine’ than those I’ve recorded – because all I have are ethereal mental images and sensations. I can only describe most of the exhibitions I saw, or roughly verbalise how it felt to wander around in an exciting, new (to me) place – the freedom and the joyful sense of adventure lies beyond any tangible, physical record, or indeed, the digital screen.

*After writing this post I also misplaced my memory card (like an idiot), so it might just be iPhone images from hereon…or at least until I find out where it is hiding*

See also:

Beginning At The End

Some Practical Matters

The Road To Seville

Spanish Tiles And Spectacular Ceilings

CAAC: Contemporary Art In Seville

CAAC – Contemporary Art in Seville

Deep within the grounds of a cavernous old monastry, the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC) is a wonderful asset to the city of Seville.

http://instagram.com/p/ypE3uhvukl/

 

The Cartuja Monastery – once a ceramics factory, offers an ideal setting for contemporary art. Even before entering the building(s) visitors are greeted by an exciting array of outdoor, site-specific pieces.

 

Examples of art in the CAAC grounds © Sarah Coggrave

A giant Alice-in-Wonderland-esque face and hand protrude from windows. Cabinets and oddities teeter precariously in treetops, rather like obscure little treehouses. Blue buoy-like objects create contours in the lake, and a curious male figure stands bedecked with gadgets.

The buildings themselves were full of historical surprises. Secret alcoves paved with fading Spanish tiles, and more, unexpected spectacular ceilings.

http://instagram.com/p/ypjNjjPuiq/

 

1) The Social Construction of the Landscape

This sprawling exhibition explored multiple themes, as described on the CAAC website below:

Landscape is not the natural scenery or location within our field of vision; it is what we make of it, a cultural construct requiring an interpretation that takes existing physical elements and turns them into a landscape. In this case, it is something forged in the creative process, where the artist’s intention, intervention and interpretation of a territory yield a vision or an idea.

(From the CAAC website)

The highlight for me was a short film, in which the anthropomorphic qualities of rocks are described; forms, which, at certain times of day (when the light falls in a particular way) resemble faces and animals. Humanity and detailed scenes, embedded in crevasses and craters – reminded me of searching for faces in clouds, or seeing shapes in patterned wallpaper. Of course there was much, much more to the exhibition than this – all kinds of inventive sights and installations…

http://instagram.com/p/ypis0OPuh4/

 

2) Maria Thereza Alves: The Long Road to Xico (1991-2014)

This exhibition showcased various projects conducted by Alves, my favourite being her exploration of a lost lake in Mexico, which members of a Native community sought to recreate. The original destroyer of the landmark – a Spanish colonist, was hailed a hero, the true costs of his conquests overlooked.

Maria Thereza Alves invites us to debate two issues of critical importance for contemporary culture and for Spain in particular: the need to develop a new awareness of and respect for nature, and the urgency of rewriting colonial history. She has brought these two pressing tasks here, to the island in the River Guadalquivir where Columbus was buried and his son planted a centuries-old ombu tree whose branches still provide welcome shade today, a place ideally suited for rethinking “where and who we are at this moment in time”.

(From the CAAC website)

 Contemporary art spaces such as these frequently provided a refuge during my trip; from the crowds, the noise of the city and the more predictable tourist attractions. It was comforting to be around the work of artists I was familiar with, in settings and spaces that varied little across countries. Yet at the same time there was something disconcerting about this invariability – the white cube, the superfluous text, the pervasiveness of this contemporary art ‘model’ and the ways of displaying art this seemed to dictate.

I digress.

Following my visit to CAAC I wandered along the banks of the Guadalquivir River once more, until darkness fell. Then I returned to the hostel, bracing myself for yet another, sleepless night of noise.

See more:

Beginning At The End

Some Practical Matters

The Road To Seville

Spanish Tiles And Spectacular Ceilings