The First Water / La Primera Aigua

2019

42 inkjet prints, red thread, glass vitrine with a Spanish edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray and a postcard with a view of Alcoy, stereo recording, 15:17, video, 20:04

Molinar valley outside of Alcoy, Spain used to be a centre of Valencian industry and now is a spectacular display of romantic ruins. This work is an attempt to weave a fictional personal story into the history of a real place: fragments of a young man’s diary describing his affection for another man are presented along with the fragments of Molinar’s contemporary landscape. A restaged all-male group portrait from the local archive and a silent video of a man waiting in the various locations of the valley as the night falls complement the installation.

A catalogue has been published on the occasion of exhibiting this work in Fundación Mutua Levante gallery space in Alcoy between 9 May – 8 June 2019.