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JON CAZENAVE — Galerna

Galerna

Galerna. Artegunea Kutxa space. Tabakalera. San Sebastian, Spain.


Galerna. EACC, Espai d´art contemporani. Castellón, Spain.

Eng

Strongly committed to questioning his identity and his belonging to a territory, Jon Cazenave embarked on a long photographic journey that led him beyond the documentation of a country towards the discovery of his deepest being.

Galerna arose and was constructed image upon image, year after year. It was a lengthy liberating process that led Jon Cazenave into constructing a building. Drawing primarily on photojournalism, his early images seemed intent on raising awareness about the political image of his country. But another necessity quickly imposed itself on him, which was that of discovering the soul of his territory and its origins. He gradually shifted away from a documentary approach towards another more crucial photographic language. He thus became tied to his immediate environment: mountains, forest, sea, its fishermen, Basque culture and its rituals, but also animals and later the caves with which it merges. Arriving at pure, black, direct images carved into the material. Jon Cazenave makes an incision in the landscape, his own landscape. For Galerna is primarily about a man encountering his country and its history.

Jon Cazenave is a solitary walker who roams his homeland to become one with it, as part of a carnal, emotional clinch. A return to his roots arises from this physical —and philosophical— experience. The universal joins the intimate and merges with its deepest identity. He gradually reconnects to his roots. The elements are deafening. Stone, water, clouds and trees lead him towards an inner journey that is almost a mystical adventure. Sea and mountain will be his purgatory. He enters into communion with this reassuring and yet hostile Mother Nature.

It is through photography, with her, that Jon Cazenave finally glimpses his freedom. The photographer does not stop following his path. He has perceived another direction after more than ten years of relentless, uncompromising photography. He has left the edges of forests to enter prehistoric caves, mystical caverns hidden on both sides of the border and it is here that he has found his other self. It is in this place where everything began and Jon Cazenave returns to the genesis of his story with a true hymn to nature.

He finally lays one last stone in his work by breaking free from his unquenchable thirst for blackness. Colour brings a new response to his perhaps final search. Galerna has therefore concluded his long journey into the depths of the universe. It is an ode to rediscovered life. Jon Cazenave sometimes returns to see this mountain that has given him so much energy, alongside which he finds refuge and calm. He has transformed blackness. When everything was already in its right place, he has opened the door to other questions to provide himself with the possibility of new forms of creation.

Fannie Escoulen


Cast

Con la firme determinación de cuestionar su identidad y su pertenencia al territorio, Jon Cazenave comienza un largo viaje fotográfico que le conduciría, más allá de documentar un país, hacia el descubrimiento de su más profundo ser.

Galerna nace y se construye de imagen en imagen, año tras año. Es un proceso largo y liberador que embarca a Jon Cazenave en la construcción de un edificio. En sus primeras imágenes se aferra en dar a conocer la imagen política de su país. Pero muy pronto le sobreviene otra necesidad, que es la de descubrir el alma de su territorio y la de sus orígenes. Poco a poco se va distanciando del enfoque documental para dirigirse hacia otro lenguaje fotográfico más esencial. Llegan las imágenes negras, puras, directas, talladas en la materia. Jon Cazenave hace una incisión en el paisaje, su propio paisaje. Porque Galerna es, sobre todo, el encuentro de un hombre con su país y su historia.

Jon Cazenave es un caminante solitario que recorre su tierra natal para hacerse uno con ella, en un cuerpo a cuerpo carnal y emocional. De esta experiencia física —y filosófica— nace el retorno a los orígenes. Lo universal se une a lo íntimo y se fusiona con su identidad más profunda. Poco a poco reconecta con sus raíces. Los elementos son ensordecedores. La piedra, el agua, las nubes, los árboles le llevan hacia un viaje interior cercano a una aventura mística. El mar y la montaña serán su purgatorio. Entra en comunión con la madre naturaleza, tranquilizadora pero hostil.

A través de la fotografía, con ella, Jon Cazenave divisa por fin su libertad. Después de más de diez años de fotografía apasionada, sin concesiones, percibe una dirección diferente. Abandona las orillas de los bosques para entrar en las cavernas místicas escondidas en ambos lados de la frontera, donde se encuentra con su otro yo. Es en este lugar donde todo ha comenzado y Jon Cazenave, con un verdadero himno a la naturaleza, regresa a la génesis de su historia.

Coloca por fin una última piedra en su trabajo. El color aporta una nueva respuesta a su búsqueda, quizá la última. Galerna termina así su largo recorrido por el vacío del universo. Es una oda a la vida reencontrada. Ha transformado el negro. Cuando todo estaba ya en su justo lugar, ha abierto la puerta a otras interrogantes para concederse la posibilidad de nuevas formas de creación.

Fannie Escoulen


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