During the summer I found a discarded picture frame in my village's rubbish bin. I took it - it can always be useful for anything. Not before later at home I noticed the framed picture: a reproduction of a painting of two large galleons at sea near a harbour. Sea and ships?!
The village is situated in Guadalajara, in the middle of Spain, in an arid landscape. Only a small stream runs through the village. So the sea, the water, the boats could not be further away from this environment. But someone had to long for the sea, the sea breeze, the salty smell...someone had this painting hanging in their house for a long time. Did they buy it? Was it a gift? Someone must have had a wish to set sail on a boat to an unknown shore, a desire to leave everything behind, to lose the ground beneath their feet, to be carried away by the sea.
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During the first strict pandemic quarantine I talked to my friends who live in the countryside. The loneliness and silence became unbearable for them at times, day after day without seeing a soul. They longed for the hustle and bustle of the city, the crowds of people, the noise, the sight of a car passing by. I then asked my friends in Madrid and they, on the contrary, yearned for the countryside - so as not to meet people in the street who could spread the virus, and to be able to take off their masks, even if only for a moment, like on a walk in the countryside.
I didn't meet anyone who wasn't longing for a different place than their own.
The theme of longing has haunted me ever since. I took the frame and put it in different places around the village: in the yellow grass dried by the scorching sun; among the granite rocks; leaning against the trunk of a holm oak. I took the frame under my arm walking through the landscape, along paths that would never reach the sea.
Ins Ungebundene gehet eine Sehnsucht (A longing goes into the unbound) - for a long time I had this sentence written on the wall in my room. I wanted to conquer the world, to change everything, to break ties. Now that we are experiencing such uncertain and perplexing times, I suddenly feel a longing for roots, for solidity - something that will protect me...
The video deals with this theme of longing - of yesterday and today - so changeable according to the person, according to the circumstances, according to the historical moment.
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