The water, the wind and the sun, alongside other meteorological or geological phenomena, have been the only landscape transformers in the course of thousands of years, until the recent apparition of Man who has occupied, within a very short time, the apex of the pyramid. Humanity has been rendered as being specialized in the creation of landscapes. Undoubtedly, we can encounter the principal evidence of the transformations human beings exercise today on the territory of cities and metropolitan areas, surrounded by all necessary infrastructures for their resources and development. We can now see how all these landscapes, progressively generated thanks to the work of hundreds of years, are remodeled in a matter of seconds. These very same landscapes rapidly disappear without leaving any testimony of their previous existence. In the aftermath of the transformation of these unique and singularly representative landscapes, remains a culture which is no longer ours. The panorama results into nothing less than revealing. It is therein where our own identity becomes reflected as a product of our logic - a product destined to speak for us when we will no longer be here. The places I have come across, where the instantaneous photographs of this work have been taken, reside in some of the corners of this reality: transited areas depleted of any interest, far away from the tourist circles. Not subjected to the Mallorca, 235 - 08008 Barcelona - (+34) 93 487 35 88 - www.kowasa.com - gallery@kowasa.com materialization and the typical protectionism imposed by this network of touristic or citizen interest, these landscapes work as free industrial spaces in constant mutation. They are, properly speaking, peripheral spaces, representative of our culture and our society. My counter-touristic visits to the banlieues of the cities have given birth to a precise graphic documentation of a contemporary time and space lost in their ubiquity. It is all about a particular landscape-centered imagery, miles away from the bucolic and cosmopolitan postcards any urban agglomeration would like to throw as carte de visite to its visitors. It is the rapprochement of these spaces, by means of a consciousness and sensibility, willing to experiment with the sensations these spaces can transmit to us, what makes us perceive all this transitional nature of matter, time and space. We "palpate" a nature in a state of hybridism, savageness, ambiguity and suspension -a nature, which is on the verge of assuming the dimension of a still life. BIOGRAPHY Roger Serrat-Calvó Calm (Olot, Catalunya, Spain, 1982): Having graduated in 2004 from the University of Barcelona, with a degree in the field of image, Serrat-Calvó undertook a course in advertising, editorial and fashion at the IDEP Institute of Barcelona. Since then, he has lived and worked as a freelance photographer in Barcelona, combining his professional activity with his academic studies and photographic projects. In 2005, coinciding with the commencement of his PhD studies, Serrat-Calvó embarked on a project under the title "Other Landscapes". His interest in landscape and architecture had already made its presence evident in projects such as "Spaces for Reflection" or "Paths of water", all culminated during his university years. Likewise, his current subjects in progress are principally focused on the contemporary landscape and its transformations. © Roger Serrat-Calvó Calm
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