An Ode to the Mountain
The project "An Ode to the Mountain" arose from direct contact with the natural environments of Cantabria. The visits to the caves of El Pendo, Las Monedas, El Castillo, Covalanas, and the Neo cave of Altamira, were the starting point; caves millions of years old, world heritage sites containing Palaeolithic cave art dated between 65,000 and 10,000 BC.
To come into direct contact with the origins.
To explore the bowels of a mountain.
To experience the geological archive of the world.
To witness absolute darkness.
The project consists of a two-channel video and performance exploring the experience of the mountain and what it represents to me. Exploring the mountain showed me the transition from resistance to surrender, from chaos to silence, from weight to lightness. By inhabiting the mountain I discovered how to inhabit myself. The video is an ode to the mountain, an encounter, an intertwining of myself and the mountain through a dance of initiation into contemplation and surrender.
The artworks present a homage to the mountain through a ritual of gratitude for that place of lightless clarity within me to which the mountain speaks without words, inviting me to awaken. An attempt to enter into contact and dialogue with the natural environment through sensitivity and care, inviting the viewer to reconnect with the here-and-now through the mineral wealth of the Earth.
"An Ode to the Mountain"
Two channel video HD with sound
7 minutes
Filmed in Cantabria, Spain
2023
Transcripts from the video sound
Inhabiting the mountain showed me the way.
The mountain made inroads into me.
It reflected inside me.
I discovered a place of clarity without light.
A space inside me to which the mountain spoke without words.
I wanted to shelter that space, to recognise and contemplate it.
To contemplate myself.
I made space,
When I felt it,
When I found it,
When I could say
There it is,
Here we are,
Here I am,
It's the mountain in me,
It's the instinct in me,
It's liberating.
I let it expand,
It embraced me and invited me to dance,
It invited me to shake.
I let it guide me,
We dancen to the sound of the sea,
To the rhythm of the waves.
That clarity without light,
That is inside me,
Accompanies me wherever I go,
I can dance with the mountain,
I can shake,
I can feel it,
I can surrender,
And she's there,
Accompanying me,
Freeing me,
Making me feel,
So mine,
And so hers,
For we are one.
Stills from the video
Performance "Lightless Clarity"
10 minutes
El Sable beach, Cantabria, Spain
2023
Stills from the performance
