Yapeyú 70
Yapeyú 70 is a re-exploration of my maternal grandparents’ house in Buenos Aires, treasuring memories lived there. This was weeks before the house keys would be given to the new owners for demolition leaving behind the many stories that were written around those walls by the last four generations.
Even though each of the images is connected to some of those stories and personal memories, the core of this project flows around feelings, those that drove me to impulsively photograph and ‘preserve’ the spaces framed in the pictures. As if out of fear of forgetting what I had lived there urged me to ‘capture’ time-space scenes that would carry me back to the original moments as I remembered them. The first time sleeping away from my parents, afternoon teas with butter-sugar toasts and the conversations around it, specific sounds, textures and aromas; festivities, celebrations but also shocking, tense and sad situations … all kind of experiences.
This Series became part of a reconnection to and a re-discovery of myself, my childhood and those places where I used to share moments with my brother, cousin and the rest of the family.
However, this is not only about me, my memories or stories. I want this project to be an invitation to each and every one of us to let ourselves be vulnerable and “dig deep” in our memories, lives and histories to recall our moments and feelings. Doing this, I think we can regain awareness about the concept of us being who we are because of the moments we’ve shared and lived, because of the decisions we’ve made and the ones we didn’t, and because of every single thing we experienced in life until right now. I believe that bringing that self-consciousness will make us see life with a wider perspective and be appreciative not only of our past but also of our ‘here and now’ and the future to come.
Time, space and matter are indeed ephemeral, but after all, the moments and feelings lived are the ones we’ll take with us wherever we go.