Never Neverland [2016-2024]
Text
Photos
Dummy
Installations
Tocar mare i fuig [2023-ong]
I. Enversada
II. Lo Delta
About
As the first piece in a larger series, I. Enversada serves as a critical and poetic revision of popular ritual practices, specifically focusing on the veneration of Saint Roch as a protective figure in times of calamity. The project integrates movement, gestures, and sound to reimagine local traditions, engaging with the evolving dynamics that shape the territory and its communities today. Emphasizing the visual and sonic elements of ritual, the work translates these communal practices into a contemporary framework—questioning their persistence, transformation, and displacement in a present marked by profound social and environmental change.
Context
This proposal is situated in the Ebro Delta, one of Europe’s most biodiverse yet most vulnerable delta ecosystems, facing the impacts of climate change. Human activities, such as dam construction and water management practices that have reduced sediment flow, have led to coastline regression and the gradual sinking of the delta. This environmental degradation poses a serious threat not only to the natural ecosystem but also to the cultural survival of the communities that depend on the river. It is anticipated that within less than twenty years, the reduced river flow and rising sea levels will jeopardize agricultural activities, environmental balance, and local socioeconomic dynamics.
Located at the mouth of the Ebro River, the Delta spans 320 km², including 7,805 hectares of protected natural park. This territory is vital for Mediterranean biodiversity and supports a culture deeply rooted in fishing and agriculture, particularly rice cultivation. For the people of the Delta, their connection to the land is symbiotic: the environment not only provides economic sustenance but also serves as a core element of their cultural identity, mirrored in the planting and harvesting cycles of the deltaic landscape.
Despite its ecological and cultural significance, the Delta is an isolated region, with limited links to medium or large urban centers, and has historically been overlooked in Catalonia. The Terres de l’Ebre account for 10.2% of Catalonia’s territory but only 2.5% of its population. Since the Spanish Civil War, this area has experienced demographic and economic decline, exacerbated by a lack of attention from local authorities, infrastructure deficiencies, and fragmented development strategies. The establishment of large nuclear and hydroelectric plants has failed to reverse this decline. However, in recent years, citizen movements advocating for the protection of the region’s resources —such as water, energy, and landscape— have highlighted the critical role of the Ebro in shaping the future environmental and cultural landscape of Catalonia.
Goigs to saint Roch and the Ebro River
Goigs are poetic compositions recited in honor of the saints, structured in stanzas with a repeated refrain sung by all those present. With simple, accessible language, these goigs emerged between the 17th and 18th centuries and were passed down orally, with the community memorizing and reciting them during the corresponding festivals and solemnities.
Today, in several towns along the Ebro River basin, the goigs to saint Roch continue to be recited in a tradition known as “enversada a Sant Roc”. Throughout history, the Ebro River has been a key conduit for the transmission of culture and traditions, both upstream and downstream. In La Ràpita, a town at the entrance to the natural park and just a few kilometers from the river basin, the goigs are passed down from generation to generation and recited during a popular event on Sant Roc Street, in the old fishermen’s district, where a display case with a statue of the saint is preserved. This street is also where my maternal family’s house stood, directly across from the display case, at number 34.
The project revolves around the concept of devotion as an act of resistance. The goigs to Saint Roch are revitalized as an expression of the collective identity of the Ebro Delta, where the symbolic intercession before the forces of nature underscores the interdependence between the community and its ecosystem. Historically, these goigs were recited as prayers to protect crops and fields from pests and floods. Through this project, the intention is to reframe them as a response to the new environmental threats posed by the climate crisis and water management practices. The work seeks to confront the gradual disappearance of a physical and cultural landscape with a memory that persists, re-signifying itself as a contemporary form of resistance to ongoing ecological and social transformations.
Female Resistance and Rural Struggle
This proposal is deeply rooted in the tradition of female resistance in the Ebro Delta, with a particular focus on the rural context of La Ràpita, where agriculture and fishing have been essential to both survival and the construction of local identity. The goigs, traditionally recited by women, are reimagined here as a form of cultural and community resistance, linking the defense of the land to the preservation of an ecosystem under threat from climate change and the forces of extractive capitalism. Through these recitals, the role of women is reasserted as both the protectors of tradition and as active agents in the struggle for the Delta’s sustainability.
This project revitalizes the goigs as a means to honor the legacy of female resistance, drawing a direct connection to contemporary challenges. The aim is not only to emphasize the role of women as powerful actors in rural contexts amid current crises but also to reframe traditional practices as a form of cultural subversion, resisting the pressures of modernization and environmental destruction.
(Digital archival images from my mum)
(This project is currently in the process of securing funding for its completion. These simulations represent potential final outcomes of the project, created using photographs from other artists or archival images. Their purpose is to visualize one of the possible directions the project could take. However, it’s important to note that these visualizations are not definitive and may evolve throughout the development process, as new ideas and approaches emerge. The images have been carefully selected to closely reflect the artist’s original concept in terms of framing and intention).