EXHIBITION:
Jon Cazenave
GALERNA
06.11.2020 - 14.02.2021
Curator: Fannie Escoulen
Galerna is a highly meticulous, subjective visual project on the Basque soul developed since 2007 by the photographer Jon Cazenave.The project emerges out of a purposeful analysis of the Basque conflict, and more generically explores the nature, history and legends of his people.
Cazenave does not try to address his political or national identity in a specific way; instead, with the passing years he evolves from the specific to the universal, from the concrete to the abstract. In actual fact, Galerna is a journey of initiation and birth.It is a journey which, instead of leading us to a destination full of conclusive, correct answers, takes us to the origin of all origins, to the only territory of serenity, to what he proposes as the only possible answer.
The exhibition is organised into 8 clearly differentiated spaces.Introduction, Conflict, Forest, Landscape, Cave, Wide Open Sea, Geometry and Landscape, Stones and Pigment, which are the stages in a personal life.
Photographs, risographs and the film Ama Lur trace a route through which the artist explores his identity in relation to his environment. A path in which nature finally reveals itself as a liberating element.
From the tension and pitch blackness of the beginnings, passing through the mysterious forest and through the cave —understood as that empty space in which the human being can rest free of any kind of contamination—, the visitor comes face to face with the rough sea that rises up in two monumental sections: a panel of 24 photographs taken during violent storms showing the sheer strength of the waves as they break on dry land; and the other one comprising 210 images representing the breathing of the sea, because it is a set of waves crashing on the rocks and photographed over a 6-minute period.
After the fury, the calm.Cazenave approaches the mountains where he highlights the geometry of the natural which provides him with liberation, refuge and serenity.
Cazenave concludes his private journey with a set of 10 images in which he makes a fresh response to his undoubtedly ultimate quest.He provides himself with colour pigments, substrates of the earth that he himself collects, and positions them on stones in the river he finds along his way. After so many images, the stone that emerged out of the ground is going to become the only thing he can photograph, in the most ancient, intimate discovery. After a long journey he paints these stones at home.He no longer takes any more photographs nor captures outdoor light.Now he builds, creating the images from his innermost depths.
THE ARTIST:
JON CAZENAVE (Donostia, 1978)
He graduated in Economics and Business Administration at the University of Deusto in 2001.
His approach to photography commences from an intimate anthropological perspective and then later develops a language that incorporates ancestral signs and symbols into contemporary creation.
His work has been displayed in public and private institutions such as Sala Canal de Isabel II (Spain), CaixaForum (Spain), CentroCentro Palacio de Cibeles (Spain), CCCB (Spain), Fundación Museo Jorge Oteiza (Spain), Guangdong Museum of Art (China), Museum Belvédère (Netherlands) and Fotomuseum Antwerp (Belgium).
He has participated in many international events, including Les Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles (France), Noorderlicht Photofestival (Netherlands), Guangzhou Image Triennial (China), Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo de América del Sur BIENALSUR (Argentina), Foto México (Mexico) and PHotoESPAÑA (Spain).
He has published his photographs in magazines such as El País Semanal, Vogue UK, Harper’s Bazaar and M le magazine du Monde, as well as in specialised media such as El Cultural, GUP Magazine, Dienacht Magazine, L’oeil de la Photographie and 30y3 Spanish Photography.
He has won prizes in competitions such as Descubrimientos PHotoESPAÑA, Tokyo International Photography Award, PDN Award, Voies Off Arles, FotoPres La Caixa, Santa María de Albarracín Foundation Photography Scholarship and the Basque Government’s Plastic Arts Scholarship.
More information at www.joncazenave.com
RELATED ACTIVITIES:
Guided tour of the exhibition by Jon Cazenave:
In Spanish:
19 November / 6.30 pm / Free - COMPLETED-
14 January / 6.30 pm / Free - COMPLETED-
In Basque:
26 November / 6.30 pm / Free - COMPLETED-
4 February / 6.30 pm / Free - COMPLETED-
Limited places
Prior booking is required by calling 943 3251937, at the Sala or writing to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Workshop To Be (trough) the image, by Jon Cazenave
4-8 December
Place: Sortzaileen Gunea. Tabakalera
Price: 185€
Prior booking is required
Limited places
More information: T 943 251934 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Talk-seminar Galerna, with Jon Cazenave
12 December / 12:00pm
This activity is part of de programmed activities associated with the Gabriela Cendoya Bergareche Collection.
Place: Museo San Telmo (Donostia / San Sebastián).
Basque / Free
Limited places
Prior booking in on the Museo San Telmo's website
Galerna by… Oskar Alegria
17 December / 6.30 pm
Guided tour to the exhibition
Basque / Free
Limited places
Prior booking is required by calling 943 3251937, at the Sala or writing to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Taller Hamaika. Los infinitos soportes de la fotografía
30 January / 10:30 am - 5.30 pm
Place: Medialab (2nd floor- Tabakalera)
In Basque / Limited places
Prior booking and more information on the previa obligatoria y más información en la web de Tabakalera's website
Galerna by… Ana Galarraga
11 de febrero / 18:30
Guided tour to the exhibition
In Basque / Free
Limites places
Prior booking is required by calling 943 3251937, at the Sala or writing to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ACTIVITIES:
Free guided tours:
Sundays
5.30pm in Basque / 6.30pm in Spanish
Limited places
Prior booking is required by calling 943 3251937, at the Sala or writing to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
BROCHURE:
Discard here the brochure of the exhibition:
CATALOGUE:
JON CAZENAVE
GALERNA
Basque-Spanish and English-French editions.
Price: € 42 (VAT included)
Galerna is a highly meticulous, subjective visual project on the Basque soul developed since 2007 by the photographer Jon Cazenave.The project emerges out of a purposeful analysis of the Basque conflict, and more generically explores the nature, history and legends
of his people.
Cazenave does not try to address his political or national identity in a specific way; instead, with the passing years he evolves from the specific to the universal, from the concrete to the abstract. In actual fact, Galerna is a journey of initiation and birth.It is a journey which, instead of leading us to a destination full of conclusive, correct answers, takes us to the origin of all origins, to the only territory of serenity, to what he proposes as the only possible answer.
The exhibition is organised into 8 clearly differentiated spaces.Introduction, Conflict, Forest, Landscape, Cave, Wide Open Sea, Geometry and Landscape, Stones and Pigment, which are the stages in a personal life.
Photographs, risographs and the film Ama Lur trace a route through which the artist explores his identity in relation to his environment. A path in which nature finally reveals itself as a liberating element.
From the tension and pitch blackness of the beginnings, passing through the mysterious forest and through the cave —understood as that empty space in which the human being can rest free of any kind of contamination—, the visitor comes face to face with the rough sea that rises up in two monumental sections: a panel of 24 photographs taken during violent storms showing the sheer strength of the waves as they break on dry land; and the other one comprising 210 images representing the breathing of the sea, because it is a set of waves crashing on the rocks and photographed over a 6-minute period.
After the fury, the calm.Cazenave approaches the mountains where he highlights the geometry of the natural which provides him with liberation, refuge and serenity.
Cazenave concludes his private journey with a set of 10 images in which he makes a fresh response to his undoubtedly ultimate quest.He provides himself with colour pigments, substrates of the earth that he himself collects, and positions them on stones in the river he finds along his way.After so many images, the stone that emerged out of the ground is going to become the only thing he can photograph, in the most ancient, intimate discovery.After a long journey he paints these stones at home.He no longer takes any more photographs nor captures outdoor light.Now he builds, creating the images from his innermost depths.