The title for this post is taken from a verse by Antonio Machado, purportedly his last – written on a scrap of paper found in his jacket upon his death.
So, those yew trees (at the tomb of Antonio
Machado) turned out to be cypress trees. Easy mistake, I guess (for the writer
of the article I read that led me to this particular tomb in Collioure, France
on my quest for the European yew), as both trees are common to
graveyards/cemetery’s and the like. There are cypress trees at the cemetery in
Portbou, Spain as well (where Walter Benjamin’s tomb once was but now, as I
gather, the body was moved and it is simply a memorial marker). It’s looking
like specifically using the yew tree as a point of departure for this project
is not going to happen in this instance – which is fine. There’s a lot to sort
through here and I’m at the stage of collecting and thinking, trying some
things and flailing a bit as I figure out my approach(es).
Not a lot of time to write thoughtfully about
things during my stay here (at Nau Côclea) as the days are being spent on
various excursions, generally through some pretty intense, windy mountain roads
and it’s hot as all hell and by the time we’re home (colleague and art friend
extraordinaire - we’ll call them LAP, to respect their privacy- is working
alongside me during this residency) the brain energy is in a kind of wonked out
state and there’s always more stuff we need to research for the next day before we
head out again.
In short though, here’s a super brief list of
what’s rattling about in my head as I’m out in the field and back in the studio
(aka, old school on-the-grid-but-barely beautiful, rustic house/compound in the mountains
just outside the nearest village of Camallera)…
- paths and crossings/borders – open/closed /
multi-directional (double-cross)
- memorials and behavior / pilgrimages v.
sightseeing
- landscape markers (see above) / specific
forms (numbered rocks)
- fascism and anti-intellectualism / Spanish
Civil War + WWII
- duration and prolonging / archival
imagery/material + ruins (bunkers)
- sites and topography / stone + soil
- mountains + trees / sky and coast
- grief and despair / pathos and horror
Yeah, that’s a lot – and there’s more (such
as, why I’m using the cyanotype process while here and how I’m doing so –
although, actually, that’s kind of embedded in parts of the above…more on that
later).
Quick bit of site-specific info to give a
sense of what/where some of the images below were made and/or what’s embedded
within them:
Site 1 = Tomb of Antonio Machado, renowned Spanish
poet forced into exile during the Spanish Civil War. Machado died only a few
days after arriving in Collioure (his mother died a few days later and is
buried with him).
Site 2 = Memorial and “grave” of Walter
Benjamin in Portbou, Spain. Benjamin committed suicide in Portbou after being led
across a mountainous path from France into Spain by Lisa Fittko where he hoped
to continue onto Portugual and then the U.S., but was denied entry and was to
be deported back to Nazi territory the following day.
Site 3 = Coll de Banyuls. Portion of the
trail that both Benjamin and Machado took to/from France/Spain within a little
over a year of one another – as well, this was the trail that countless
“unnamed” exiled citizens of France/Spain traveled. There is a border stone
here, and Francoist bunker ruins.
Site 4 = Border crossing between France/Spain
in Portbou. A portion of the trail referenced above can be accessed here. There
is also a border stone, bunker ruins and a Francoist monument.
The images below are rough, rough, rough. Some still images, some video stills/composites (click on the first one for an easier viewing experience...I think, maybe...)
Just snippets of what I’m currently looking at.
Placeholders, of sorts – reminder notes…
