Universes in Universe - Worlds of Art

Cazadores de sombras
10 October - 16 November 2007

Cazadores de sombras / Photos - overview

16 of 16

Juan Urrios

 

 

 

Amer. 2001-2002
From the series: Cantera, catalanes por el Barça (Breeding Ground, Catalans for Barça).

Origins, differences of race, gender, age... all become relative in a society that like never before accepts integration as a phenomenon of equality. Somewhere in between a documentary and a psychological analysis, Urrios proposes the idea of belonging in his series "Cantera" (Breeding Ground). He analyses the phenomenon of emigration from a perspective that may seem superficial. He presents the immigrant as a person seeking acceptance, wishing to fit in more than anything else. He would probably sell his soul to the devil in order to be like the rest, to lose himself with the others in the indifference of the big city.

Twenty portraits of immigrants of different races, origins, gender and age, all of them wearing the shirt of the Barcelona soccer team -the Barça- the symbol of Catalonia. Not surprisingly, the Barça is considered "more than a club", because more than a club, it's a sign of identity. The people portrayed state in a brief CV where they come from, the reasons why they came to Barcelona, Spain, and express that they belong to the Barça, they are members of the club and therefore they are Catalans on their own right. In their efforts to get accepted, they mix up the colors and the distinctive features of the team shirt (symbol among symbols) and show one belonging to another team. People that have lost their identity and try and rebuild it based on borrowed symbols whose meaning they will possibly never fully understand.

(Translation: Marina Torres)

Print version - all texts

© Photos, texts: Authors & SEACEX

 

 

 

Cazadores de sombras / Photos - overview