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30
MADRID ON THE GROUND
Text and Photos: ©Elena Garrigues

The ground sustains us; it guides us, carries us and leads us. It does not exist merely to be walked on without a second thought, but rather to be enjoyed in all of its glory, passionately, without the need for any justification at all.

And yet we look at the ground from a pragmatic viewpoint, without giving it any further thought or enjoyment, oblivious to the fact that a metal sheet with a small hole may be home to sand storms, river swirls, and seas of stars.

Unaware of the urban flora hidden in every ditch. Blind to an invert form that could double as an artist's atelier. Unconscious of how simple parking lines contain color particles mixed with such beautiful dirt.

If what we are trying to do here is to evaluate a sense of aesthetics, all I can say is that I say what I see, and what I see I photograph.

I started capturing pavements while living in NY where, over nine months, I had to watch where I was going, slow down my pace and measure each step. That was when I started looking at what I actually had to see.

At first I saw nothing worth mentioning,but after a few days I began to realize that those pavements sheltered all forms of objects, states of mind, creatures fierce and tender, even realities, that proliferate from month to month and become objects both desirable and unnerving.

I have since photographed many urban floors, but this series is special because, although all cities have pavements, only one of them has Madrid’s.

And now that the city has been slit open, with construction works that all of us have trudged on, the grounds of a convalescent Madrid are more fertile, more beautiful and more surprising than ever.

Partly because it is an evolving floor, where all horizons are perfectly exposed to the camera. But also because every day, every light, every drop of water, every step and every gaze turns it into something new.

But to experience that surprise, you need to look first. At the ground.

So go ahead - be my guest.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder