Landscape and myth of Count Arnau
The myth of Count Arnau has been, since the Romantic era, the most important folkloric and literary legend in Catalonia. Fundamental to the myth is a popular song, probably originating in Ripoll in the 16th century, around which a legendary tradition was born that spread throughout the entire Ripolles region.
With Count Arnau, as with many other myths, we find there is a strong connection with physical features in the landscape that, due to their timeless and stable presence, serve as witnesses to make these legends all the more memorable. With regards to Count Arnau, it is specifically around the mountainous region of Montgrony where we encounter the topography and place names that evoke the figure of the damned Count with intensity.
With this landscape photography project I aimed to follow the myth of Count Arnau and, as I moved between the places connected to it, I came to understand the landscape as an expression of Count Arnau himself, as if it were the genius loci 1 of this local environment.
The exhibition consists of 28 prints, five of them in large format, as well as a box with all the print series and a book.
Exhibitions
- Landscape Observatory of Catalonia
- Palau de l'Abadia, Sant Joan de les Abadesses
- Biblioteca Carles Rahola, Girona
- Mirades Photo Festival
- In ancient Rome the genius loci was the spirit of the place, that entity with whom man should negotiate to keep an harmonious relation with the place. The term was used again during the XVIII century amongst english painters and landscapists, to allude the influence of a landscape on the observer and to describe its atmosphere and character. During the 1970s, Norwegian architect and phenomenologist Christian Norberg-Schulz picks up the term again, refering to it as that thing representing the sense a place has for the people, understanding it as the combination of its physical and symbolical values.↩