We are used to hear set phrases as “history always repeats itself” or “humans are the only animal capable of stumbling twice”. In order to offer a clearer view of what I mean, I invite you to a journey in a time machine transferring us back to the mid-nineteenth century. At this time, the Western world was racing towards deep and sweeping changes, seeds for today society. Those were political, social and economic reforms driven by the industrial revolution and the means of transport development originating our today globalised world. The mentioned transformations certainly share the common denominator of the frenzy they were involved in and the consequences they brought about. Some of the collateral damages involved in this new world order are irreversible, up to the point of turning us into our own self-created system victims. The chasm between rich and poor, the Earth wearing out, the overcrowded cities or the break out of global pandemics threatening our survival are just minor warnings reminding us we shall have taken a wrong turning.
But humanity, although stumbling, also stands up again showing that history will always give alternative routes and hope. Answers, or rather suggestions, swimming against the tide that helps us to be aware of what the road has to show and teach us. A path that is self-internally oriented allowing us to perceive this process on a deeper level. In the nineteenth century, the inward journey was led by the Romantic Travellers who formed a new artistic, literary and intellectual movement characterised by the exaltation of emotions over reason and the sense of the intellect. This philosophy became a reaction to the industrial revolution, rationalism, and even the political standards. They wanted to stop the machinery, stop time, learn from the past, and embrace their roots.
Today, the world is also asking for changes and with this project I want to recall that we know the answers to these changes, the issue is the same: are we willing to listen to those answers? And, above all, are we willing to change the direction we took one day?
El Regreso was born with the intention of exploring that journey towards the interior, towards our roots and everything that we have almost forgotten. It is born from the gaze of an urbanite, grown up in a big city surrounded by all that we call progress. In this project, I explore the rural environment, nature and its secrets with an introspective look, aiming at getting reconciliation and with the humility of those who want to be accepted back into the "tribe", as an outcast or an exile seeking redemption. This romantic philosophy transferred to our days allows me to enjoy the amazement experienced by those who look with curiosity and with a desire to learn and not to impose. These principles gave me the essential tools to undertake this journey.
The debate that I intend to generate with this work is open to many scopes and questioning: do we really consider that the way of life that we are leading is sustainable for much longer? Is the rural exodus that caused the excessive growth of cities from industrial development something of the past or, if on the contrary, should we reconsider the return and rural repopulation? If so, under what conditions or what values should we bring in our return to that habitat one day we abandoned in order to not reproduce the mistakes made and that pushed us to an almost unsustainable life in the cities? That said, we should better flee from policies based on overproduction, on exploitation without awareness of everything and everyone, to recover new ways of working, interacting with our environment, learning from it, and, ultimately, living a fuller life.
“Partimos cuando nacemos, andamos mientras vivimos y llegamos al tiempo que fenecemos”
Jorge Manrique
Text by David Guillén