CLEAR THE PATH!
2014––2021
photography, research, editorial
Clear the path! it is a photo-archaeological investigation about History –and stories– buried under sand. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, almost twenty villages were swallowed by the dunes of the Neringa Peninsula (Lithuania) due to deforestation, caused by the inhabitants of the isthmus. This allowed the dunes to move fast enough to bury villages in a time less than a human generation.
Through exhaustive research on these towns and the whole Curonian Spit, my work recovers these memories finding not only the stories but also the places where the cities rest.
Working based in one of these cities, Nida, the project consists then in finding the roads of the new Nida (the third version of the city, moved in 1730 to 3.5 km south of its original place) and transfer them to where lies the old version of the city: a restricted area, “not trespassing area”, almost on the border with the Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia). At least, ‘where we believe they are’, because no proper archaeological prospecting has been yet conducted.
The project consist on Untitled, a series of seven photographic boxes (70 x 50 x 10 cm) filled with sand from the Nida dunes; Sand archive, an archive of sandbags collected daily for three months in various parts of the Nida geography and There is no place like home, installation with pallet, sand and maps.
The project is completed with a photographic series of life during those months in the city of Nida and documentation on the area (population censuses, tourist guides, maps, old books ...).
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Through exhaustive research on these towns and the whole Curonian Spit, my work recovers these memories finding not only the stories but also the places where the cities rest.
Working based in one of these cities, Nida, the project consists then in finding the roads of the new Nida (the third version of the city, moved in 1730 to 3.5 km south of its original place) and transfer them to where lies the old version of the city: a restricted area, “not trespassing area”, almost on the border with the Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia). At least, ‘where we believe they are’, because no proper archaeological prospecting has been yet conducted.
The project consist on Untitled, a series of seven photographic boxes (70 x 50 x 10 cm) filled with sand from the Nida dunes; Sand archive, an archive of sandbags collected daily for three months in various parts of the Nida geography and There is no place like home, installation with pallet, sand and maps.
The project is completed with a photographic series of life during those months in the city of Nida and documentation on the area (population censuses, tourist guides, maps, old books ...).
