Die Rückkehr des Hirten (The shepherd's comeback), 2013
"With the feeling that there is no future to unveil, young Europeans from countries with higher unemployment rates as the case of Spain, start running forward. As an alternative to forced migration solution, they attempt to reconstruct the past that our ancestors left and proceed to the re-exploitation of natural resources and manual labor as a major new source of livelihood.
In Spain, our ancestors worked the land, cultivated fields and loaded the mules with tools, the harvest and the wineskin.
Our parents, were given everything be saved from an enslaved and illiterate dedicated life, they studied careers at college and became independent as soon as they could.
My childhood is filled with memories of the village were my grandparents used to live, where unlike in the city, children breathed freely, exploring restlessly between the limits of kindness, cruelty, memories and fellowship.
I remember my grandfather's hands and the dirt under his fingernails. The endless siestas after lunch. The sun seeping through the windows of the top floor, while my grandmother mended an old shirt.
Our generation was imposed to study. The university promised prosperity and success. Both, our parents and the educational system sold this to us as no better choice…
And what is finally left between our fingers?"
Die Rückkehr des Hirten: HDV, 5:03 Min., 16:9, Color, Stereo / EUROPA, Kraftwerk Bille, Hamburg, 2019
Hirte, 2014: C-Print from HDV / 30,5 x 54,5 cm
Schafe 1, 2014: C-Print from HDV / 30,5 x 54,5 cm
Schafe 2, 2014: C-Print from HDV / 30,5 x 54,5 cm
Schütteln, 2014: C-Print from HDV / 30,5 x 54,5 cm
Die Rückkehr des Hirten, 2013: HDV, 5:03 Min., 16:9, Color, Stereo / Installation view / Invited Artists, Offen Auf AEG, Nuremberg, 2013 / Photo: Edgar Leciejewski