Artist
Arguiñe Escandón
Arguiñe Escandón (Bilbao, 1979) focuses her attention on psychological and sociological aspects, as well as on exploring emotional bonds. Working on the thin line between fiction and reality, she builds in her photographs an imaginary wrapped in mysterious atmospheres.
In 2020, her work was shortlisted for the Prix Elysée and the Galicia Contemporary Photography Award. She also was a winner of the Fine Arts and Photography grant given by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and nominated at the Swiss Design Awards, amongst other recognitions.
She has exhibited in places such as Wilde Gallery (Geneva), Images Vevey, Verzasca Photo (Switzerland), Galería C19 (Ibiza), Galería Serendipia, Galería OTR (Madrid) and others.
Her book “Aya” published by RM (in conjunction with Yann Gross) has been recognized as one of the best books of 2020 by institutions such as PhotoEspaña or the Lucie Foundation (NY).
Prominent media like Aperture Magazine, El País, Fisheye, Gup, Le Temps, Liberation, Vogue Italia and Vistprojects have published her work.
Donde Crecen Las Plantas Salvajes (Where Wild Plants Grow)
The Triangle of Silence is bounded by Ifach Cliff in Calpe, Alicante, the southwest point of Mallorca and Es Vedrá islet on Ibiza. It is a zone defined by its strange magnetism and a plethora of paranormal manifestations.
On 11 November 1979, an airplane from TAE airline with 109 passengers on board which had taken off from Palma de Mallorca made an emergency landing in Valencia after the crew claimed it had been approached by a UFO. That same night at the very same time, a resident of the valley near Sóller snapped a picture of a strange light in the sky over Puig de L’Ofre peak (whose negatives were requisitioned and censured by the police).
This event, known as the Manises UFO Incident, served as the point of departure for defining this area as the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ of the Mediterranean.
Father Francisco Palau was a pioneer in 1854 in recounting the multiple apparitions he experienced during his long periods of seclusion in Es Vedrá and created a unique notebook with drawings and annotations of these phenomena, which still persist despite the passage of time.
Residents and fishermen cite strange light phenomena accompanied by enigmatic sounds on the shores. The many stories concur that in this area birds tend to get disorientated or cause interferences in ship and airplane navigation systems. Curiously Es Vedrá reserve, where the magnetism can be perceived more intensely, has a unique biodiversity which is still partly unexplored.
Living by this geographic location for many years, I have gradually created a sensory map by compiling extraordinary stories from the historical archives, rituals, myths and inhabitants of the region which are metaphorically documented in the project Where Strange Plants Grow.
The artists selected by PHotoESPAÑA in this edition are: Marius Scarlat (Romania, 1993), Antonio Guerra (Zamora, 1983), Suwon Lee (Caracas, 1977), Carlos Alba (Madrid, 1984) and Arguiñe Escandón (Bilbao, 1979). The possibility of seeing their work together offers us a contemporary vision of photography in Spain, in which proposals that are more documentary in nature are displayed side by side with works that are more conceptual, with the use of photography that intersects with installation. In the midst of the digital age, the pandemic has intensified the need to think about our immediate environment and our social relationships.
In this context, the work of the authors selected offers us a space for reflection and confrontation about issues relating to globalisation, technology and the environment. Marius Ionus Scarlat works on issues of Romanian identity from a personal perspective marked by his family’s migration to Spain. Suwon Lee also does it from a gender perspective and through her own body in light-based performative actions. Antonio Guerra investigates the construction of contemporary landscape its transformation processes and our perception of it through image, in a work that merges photography and sculpture.
Technology is also present in the artworks of Carlos Alba who addresses issues relating to everyday life in a world in continuous transformation. The specific project he presents is on light pollution in large contemporary cities. Contemporary nightscapes of great beauty that hide devastating effects on the population and the environment. Finally, night light is also the object of study along with sound in the project presented by Arguiñe Escandón, through which she has investigated the
paranormal effects occurring in an area of the Spanish Mediterranean produced by a magnetism that alters the life of the inhabitants, the fauna and the flora.
The five authors are at a crucial moment in their careers. In the past year, their work has been critically acclaimed and they boast international experience they can expand thanks to the Futures platform.