acubellspastormajorproject2-blog

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final statement

                                         My Bridge to Another Past

For the Major Project I have combined all elements that have been relevant in my practice: archival materials, documentaries and history, photography and video to talk about my family and their experiences during the Spanish Civil War and Dictatorship.

My inspiration arrived after looking at the work of Luis Bunuel with his documentary Land Without Bread (1933) which reflects the misery and poorness of living in an isolated land in Spain, and Susana de Souza’s 48 (2010) which explores too the theme of reclusion and dictatorship; A discussion with  video artist Miranda Pennell was also very valuable to me as she made me think of my role in the project and how I was learning about the events by becoming a “human bridge” by putting together all the materials.

I filmed in Valencia (Spain) for a week and spoke to six old family members about their pasts lives and how they remember the Civil War and Dictatorship.

I placed their old monochrome photographs on top of colourful fabrics with patterns and textures they had at home, which are quite Mediterranean; this represents the past vs the present. A worse life and a better one. The lack of something and the possession of it.

The videos I filmed of their daily routines allow us to understand more about their personalities, their surroundings and duties. I like the wrinkles in their hands and how the texture is similar to those of the fabrics. I deliberately decided not to show their faces, as for me this is a gesture of including others who also went through these terrible experiences and I am not specifying any concrete identities, since it is something that affected the entire country.

To balance a more personal side of the project with my family, I interviewed them and kept translated fragments of their stories to show, as they speak in Valencian, otherwise the audience wouldn’t be able to understand them.

The presentation of the work was also very important for me, to balance both the narration/audio/visuals.  I share their old photographs and current clips of their lives, but I do not give away their names or faces. I think that it is very important to keep their voices playing in the background, even if people will not understand them, because a voice is also a part of someone’s identity, and you can perceive things through someone’s tone or texture, especially when talking about such delicate topics.

Initially, I chose to split my work in three different old monitors, and later on decided for three HD flat screens as they preserve better the colours and details of the footage which are so essential for the project. Footage and audio are not synchronised at any point (not even the three screens are synchronised between them); each one was edited separately and play independently from the rest. This means, for each monitor we see a mix of old photographs, current clips and some text (quotations), which are never repeated in others. Each screen plays in a loop, so there is never a sense of ending-beginning in the piece. I did the same for the voices in the sound.

I would define this project as a deconstructed documentary, where everything is fragmented and separated but pieced together creates a meaning.

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Trial with a new set of flat HD screens. Quality of the image is much better for the colours and textures, which are so important for this piece. I will keep these for the exhibition. 

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(final) tutorial 4 -  11.05

MATTHEW 

The edits are final and there are no more changes to add. I am satisfied with the content and how it looks. 

CHANGE OF INSTALLATION idea, as now I will most likely be using flat HD screens. This will allow me to show all 3 videos in the same size/format/screens and also will allow me to present them in the high quality that I filmed them on. 

With the monitors each one had a different size and the quality of the colours and the image wasn’t as good. Now with the new screens it is possible to appreciate better the textures and colours of the shots, which are so important in my work. 

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Here is how it looks on 3 monitors. 

Unfortunately I couldn't try the sound at the same time, but by next week I should have an mp3 with me to play the audio from. 

I don't want this display for the exhibition....this is just a trial to see how the image looks on each monitor. I think if I kept them in a line the audience would tend to read it as a ‘linear narration’ which I don't want to happen. I would like them to be separate so that the audience has to move between them and find something different on each. 

I will keep the text as it is, I like the pace and stillness it gives to the rest of the videos; it will also help to capture the audience’s attention. 

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here the edit of each monitor is slightly longer. I have added 3 new clips and also 3 more texts (translations). I think this helps to reinforce the idea of repetition on their routines and tasks, but by adding texts I also keep the focus on the importance of their stories and what  they are sharing with us. 

I think the pace is good now, I cut down some of the longer clips. The changing at different times of the clips look nice and I think now it will be more clear how they are not in synch with the audio. 

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This is another extended edit after adding more clips. By adding more actions related to other that were already playing, I hope that it increases the feeling of ROUTINES and REPETITION. This is also making each loop a bit longer, which seems nicer to me too. 

The only problem is that now it looks like there is less TEXT, or not enough of it. But I have more back-up quotes I can add later on if I decide so. 

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group crit 2

FEEDBACK 

-play with the idea if ‘time-passing‘ in the same monitor? repetition of events? show the daily ROUTINE?

-add more of the photographs with background

-add more footage with different videos of their daily tasks

-repeat the same footage together?

In general, the concept of the project was understood. I think it will make even more sense when this is played in separate monitors and speakers. This should help to show that what we see on the text is not a direct translation of the audio, and that visuals and audio are NOT synchronised, but just related. 

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This is the first trial I have with both the audio and the visuals. Each loop of visuals lasts for about 5minutes, whereas the audio has a total of 10 for the moment. Since both the images and the audio will be in a loop, it doesn't really have a specific ending or beginning, so they will be playing separately and not in synchronisation, yet they will be relevant for each other and as overall for the piece. 

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editing - sound update

Each colour stands for each of the people that I interviewed about the Civil War and Dictatorship. So far from the editing I will be mixing these three voices and everything should up to about 15-20minutes for what I can see now. This is pretty much twice as long as what the videos should last per monitor. This works for me since it will be in a loop and it won’t be affecting the narrative of the videos or the pace. Also this will allow the audience to get more used to explore more with the voices and their textures and tonalities, trying to put a face and identity to the faceless subjects they see in the screens. 

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tutorial 3 -  23.04

with MATTHEW

The next step is to really try the piece itself (3 screens + sound) to see if it works the way I planned. 

I will have to try this with the set up of the 3 monitors too, and how they are arranged and presented, as well as how the separated audio works and relates to the video. 

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by keeping the text between the videos, this helps to keep a nice rhythm and pace, since there is a balance between stillness and movement. 

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trying out presentations of the translations...

considering that there will probably be windows in the gallery space I think its better to keep the background black, since it will help to read. Also, it can also represent the darkness of the times they are narrating. 

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audio translations - quotes

LOLA 

We had few clothes and use the same ones for summer and winter. Mostly sewed by mum.

 Working in the fields was very hard. I started to help my dad working the land at the age of 8. I had to collect all the foodstuff and cook for everyone in my family.

 In the house where I lived there was no water, we didn't have a bathroom or toilet. During winter we had to make a fire inside the house to keep us warm.

 We didn't have health insurance. All women would deliver their babies at home with the help of other women.

 In the late evening there was no-one in the streets. You could hear the steps of the police walking around during their guard. Nobody dared to open a door.

 All the clothes had to be washed by hand, in the river. Sometimes everything was frozen or covered in snow.

 In all public places and schools, it was compulsory to speak in Spanish. We could only speak in Valencian once we got home.

 What hurts me the most is that I didn't get to have a childhood as beautiful as the one kids have these days. I never went to school, never took a school trip , never shared toys with my  classmates. They took my childhood.

 At one point during the dictatorship Franco did a referendum. There was no explanation whatsoever, people didn’t know what they were voting for. And the only options were YES or NO.  Later on, we realised that it was done to determine who would succeed him after his death.

 They took my dad away to fight during the war. He once told me he pretended to be dead during one of the battles, and how the fields were covered in red.

 My mum and little sister were travelling in a train when suddenly Italian allies of Franco bombarded it. Many people died. They managed to hide under a sewer.

People lived with fear and tension. We all walked down the same streets or worked in the same factory. But they accused each other of supporting Franco or the republicans.  

 Many kids died of hunger in the village ...many of them. There was no food, and the families were extremely large.  The usual was to have around 12 kids, there was no form of contraception whatsoever.

 ENRIQUETA

We lived out of what we could get from the land. In one room there was five or six of us each night.

 We didn’t have boots, and each time it snowed, my mum would cover our feet with pieces of sacks or blankets.

 I started to work at the age of six. We didn’t go to school, so out time was spent in the fields or with the cattle.

 Sometimes a man would come around and taught us…he was like an ambulant teacher. Nowadays I manage to read, but I still don’t know how to write.

 There was no hygiene. Sometimes mother would warm up some water in a big metal bucket for us to wash ourselves, we had homemade soap. Usually once every three weeks.

 When I was sixteen my parents sent me to work as a servant in a house in the city. I had to clean everything by hand, sometimes up to twenty bedsheets by myself in the cold river.

 When one of us got sick, we would have to help ourselves from herbs in the mountains and natural remedies. We lived too far from the doctor, we had no access to him.

 VICENTA

I had five kids at home. My husband went out to find a doctor, but by the time they got back it was always too late.

 I had some family in Barcelona. During the war, they sent one of their sons to stay with us for five months. They didn’t have the money to maintain him. There was nothing left in the cities. People were starving there.

 I was the oldest one of eight siblings, but age didn’t count back then. As soon as you started to walk, you had to help at home.

 FINA

Men had all the power back then. Whatever he said, it had to be done.

 I worked from 8am until 8pm every day. I earnt about £ 0.02 per day.

   JUAN

We had all they food we would collect from the land, so we were never hungry. We had enough eggs, bread, milk, and vegetables.  In the cities it was different…after the war everything got very expensive, the only option was to buy, but people didn’t have any money.

School was too far way. It was 2h away from my house, and there was no transport.

 In the countryside there was a big sense of security. The Civil Guards were always around, and you always had to be extremely respectful and cautious. Otherwise, you could get into a lot of trouble. Once, they told me I only had to do as they said because they could kill me.

 There were many maquis hiding in the mountains, still trying to bring back the Republic. One day one of them tried to stay home with us, looking for refuge, but it was too dangerous. The police would have found out…

 We could never speak about politics. If they heard you, most likely you would end up locked up in prison. Nobody was allowed to have opinions during the Dictatorship. No voting, no strikes…nothing.

 When I was five years old, WWII was happening, but we lived in the mountains. We never got any news. We were isolated. We had no idea what was going on in the rest of Europe.

 The church had a lot if power back then. In the villages the priests would command over the mayor. We had to do as the church said: get married and have kids. It was extremely traditional and strict.

 When Franco died, I was very happy. I felt like I could finally talk and express myself. I felt freedom. I voted for the first time at the age 38.

 In museums and galleries they would hide the most important and valuable artworks. When Franco’s wife showed up, she was known for selecting some of the paintings she liked, having them removed from the museum and keep them for herself.