I'm (Not) From Here

This work speaks about my relationship with my own land: it was born of a faint but persistent discomfort, of the feeling of disbelief about my surroundings and of a dual rejection / attraction that this territory provokes in me. "(No) soy de aquí/ I´m (Not) From Here " is the exploration of that discomfort and of my own beliefs about Murcia, the region of the southeast of Spain where I live.

My Murcia is a grotesque and formless place, insecure about its identity. The signs and portents I have been photographing along the way are to me the unequivocal clues of this lack of identity. Ruins that seem like monuments and monuments that seem like ruins, these surreal displays may seem simple jokes at first, but beyond their obvious humor a deep confusion and the desire to find some meaning or purpose can also be found. Even if the way to reach that goal is to use external references or borrowed stories, not too well understood.

So, my desire is not to offer just a parody of this crazy South or a comical taxonomy of provincial disasters. I think these jarring images speak as much about our present bleak economic crisis and poor prospects, as they do about the similar nonsense of the past. I hope that, by facing such foolishness with its distorted reflections we can find some way to escape these endless cycles.  Exorcism, homage, mockery and research at once, "(No) soy de aquí" is the (self) portrait, made by one of its confused inhabitants, of a place impossible but real.