Dónde (where?) is the fifth photobook by Ramón Zabalza. It’s a paradoxical, multiform, ambiguous account of the human species’ habitat. Paradoxical is its representation of three-dimensional ruggedness, protuberances, and cavities on media that are either two-dimensional, photography, or abstract text.
The non-neutral ambiguity of Dónde lies in its use for depiction equidistant between denunciation and aesthetic pleasure. Such an alchemical mix of ethics, aesthetics, and abstraction affords an innovative and communicable perspective of territory.
This work resorts to the fruitful interaction between texts and images to illustrate photographically the essential conceits of visual syntax —point, line, plane, shape, volume, and motion—, as well as the dynamising tools of fixed image —sequences, zooms, fractals, changes of scale and redundancies.
“… The wind was blowing so hard that I wondered if my own weight and the weight
of the equipment would suffice to moor me to the ground as I crawled up to the edge
of the plateau. I laid down on my right side and concentrated on the water drops
sliding off my nose into the streams that were flowing down the rest of my body. I
was drenched to the bone, but concentrating on the rain kept me calm. The wind
began to get gusty so I held the equipment tight against my body, and, back to the
rocks, crept up to the plateau a few meters above me. While tripping several times
before reaching the car and unable to stand up straight, I was heartily relieved to
know that I wouldn’t be blown off the face of the earth.” -Ramón Zabalza.
Dónde, Visualization, landscape, and territorial morphologies. By Ramón Zabalza.
Hardbound, bilingual edition in Spanish and English, 246 pages, 20 pages of visual syntax texts and 110 pages of photographs in black and white.
Published by Ediciones Asimétricas.
ISBN: 978-84-945656-8-7
