They were always there ... (Traces - 06/2021)

The first days of total confinement were passing, that which we here call confinement and which was known throughout the world as “lockdown”.

Suddenly we could not go out any more, we were subject to countless restrictions and quarantines became part of our lives accompanied by instructions such as "stay home", "take care to take care of yours", "keep your distance", "Wash your hands", "keep a minimum distance of 2 meters", "stay safe and healthy" among others and that were modifying our routines.

In my case, I had the opportunity to move a small engraving studio to the balcony of my house. It was March 2020 and as of today none of the engravings I wanted to do was made. I felt that the language that I should use to express what was happening to me on a personal level, health and the new conditions and routines could not be engraving, it should be something that allowed me to achieve greater immediacy, that is how I made a series of drawings very expressive with the idea of ​​making an art book, which has not been done to date. It was just an idea, like so many more. 

I live with my wife and two daughters in a residential complex of apartments, we moved ten years ago. One of the reasons that brought us here and captivated us was the magnificent green and the amount of trees that surrounded us. We didn't hear the noise of a single car, or anything like that, everything was quiet until it was urbanized, and the trees were less, the green less and the birds were rarely seen and their songs were rarely heard. 

With the total confinement, something unexpected happened, we did not hear the roar of the engines again, but instead the birds, squirrels and other fauna that we were once used to appreciating returned. 

But, they were always there, the trees and the birds, the streams and the flowers, the branches and the stones, perhaps to a lesser extent but there they were. 

"They were always there" is at the moment the name for a project with which I intend to draw attention to the beauty of nature that surrounds us and what we are not aware of until something draws our attention to it. 

One day I was walking to the studio and I walked past some Guayacán flowers already fallen on the ground, this meant that I had been walking down the same path for three days and I never saw the tree in bloom with its beautiful lilac flowers on a blue sky. 

I want to document things that were always there, songs that were always heard there, streams that always ran through the same place and whose presence we took for granted. 

I think of photographic records, slides, and some sound. I want to draw attention to what was always there and that somehow today more than ever needs to be cared for through individual and collective awareness.