EL RÍO
«This project originates in my need to photograph something alien to me - a strange and far-off place. An approach to the wild and indomitable landscape of a river, the Tajo. Covering different areas of this river, I try to record pieces of landscape and the profound imprints of human activity on this place. A territory where men and animals meet and relate to each other, giving rise to conflicts of interests and supremacy. I am interested in finding the irrational sense of survival that permeates these lands on the banks of the Tajo river. One can still recognise the struggle that man has always maintained with nature. It is an auspicious place for recreational fishing in the wild. This leads to a phenomenon involving the conquest of nature: the urban population has need of authentic experiences and the proximity of the land. For these city fishermen, the mere act of making a catch in the river entails a thrilling and direct contact with reality. They are men who seek to find their experience of nature, recall that they are still alive and doing something that one assumes men have always done: hunt and fish to feed themselves. These lands flow along the course of the Tajo river, the longest of the Iberian Peninsula (more than 1,000 km in length) which crosses them in its central stage, following an easterly to westerly direction. This work has concentrated itself up to now in the provinces of Guadalajara, Madrid and Toledo. On the route through Guadalajara the terrain is wild, the land is abrupt, scarcely populated and the beauty of real wilderness remains intact. Gorges, ravines and forests form rough lands that invite man to enter and discover imagined landscapes. In its passage through the community of Madrid and Toledo the river becomes less severe and is finally channelled and broken down for agricultural usage. One often finds picnics, boats and areas for recreational fishing.This series “Beyond the River” is still in its initial phase, and I continue to work at developing a long-term project without a projected completion date.»
© All copyright remains with photographer Andrés Medina