In the summer of 2019 I had the opportunity to visit a unique place that nature had created. In the middle of a lush forest, crossed by a river, there had been, a few years ago, a landslide that plugged the flow and created a small lake. As a result, part of the forest was flooded. A huge unpopulated spot emerged in the middle of the blooming of life.

LO QUE LA LUZ ENCUBRE is the title of the visual proposal that arises from the approach to this forest mass located near the village of Cornilo, in Italy. Walking through this place I discovered, once again, that nature teaches us, in an overwhelming way, the close relationship between light and shadow, between life and death, and how this link can reach extraordinary degrees of beauty.

I had been reflecting for some time on the relationship between life and its absence, and how, on some occasions, pain and beauty are unified in a strange way, leading the latter to meanings far removed from the kindness and cordiality that the history of art has generally attributed to it.

More than documenting the place, I am interested in reflecting on this relationship, highlighting how the concept of beauty is modified by its proximity to what is not pleasant, kind or harmonious. And how its contamination with ugliness turns it into something sublime. The flooded forest is used as a metaphor to talk about the human being, its processes of growth, vitality, degeneration and extinction'. Text: Ignacio Llamas