Col du Pourtalet/El Portalet/Portalet d'Aneu in the Pyrenees, courtesy of Ignacio Evangelista (2013)
"After Schengen":
A photo series by Ignacio Evangelista
The "After Schengen" photo series is about photographing some of the old border crossing points that still exist out of order, in all the states of European Union.
Border crossings have the function of geographical boundaries and also an coercive role, since they prevent the free passage of people between one state and another. Thus they are places that, along with a cartographic dimension, evoke historical, economic and political reminiscence.
These places that, prior to the Schengen Treaty, were delimited territories and in which the traveller had to stop and show his documents. Now, after Schengen, they appear as abandoned places, located in a space-time limbo, out of use and out of the time for which they were designed, as these states have opened their borders to the free movement of people and goods.
The observation of these locations in the present time, gives them a dimension related to viewing and reading of some episodes in recent history, with the passing of time and memory in the landscape. These quasi archaeological ruins have become part of the current landscape, forming a presence of the past that lies dormant in the present.
The old border crossings are slowly disappearing, some are renovated and reconverted to new uses, some are destroyed for vandals, and some other just fall down due to the passing of time. So, a few years hence, there will be no possibility of looking at these powerful signs and symbols of recent European history.
GRANTS AND EXHIBITIONS
This project was awarded with the 2013 CENTER Project Development Grant, otorged by CENTER (Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA)
http://www.visitcenter.org/competitions/overview/project_development_grant_2013
Some pictures of this series were exhibited in Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA), Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA) in May-June 2013.
The same exhibition will be exhibed in Colorado Photographic Arts Center (CPAC) in Denver, Colorado (USA) from February 27th to April 12th 2014.
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-mail: ignaevan[at] gmail.com
Website: www.ignacioevangelista.com
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ignacio.evangelista.photo
twitter: @ignaevan