Galerna

Basque photographer Jon Cazenave explores the notion of belonging to a territory, to a culture. Basque photographer, Jon Cazenave explores the notion belonging to a territory, to a culture. For more than ten years, he has been leading a project around Basque identity entitled Galerna (storm), which draws on the origins of the conflict, but also on the history and legends of the Euskarian people. Land made of mountains, covered with deep forests, bristling in winter with snow-capped peaks, hollowed out by caves with walls covered with prehistoric paintings, the Basque country is here restored in its materiality, its diversity, but also its spirituality. images, in black and white with high contrast and in which the shadow competes with an intense luminosity, immerse the viewer in the experience of a geography imbued with symbolism. The power of nature here acquires a universal dimension: in its quest for a quintessence of Basque identity, Cazenave invites the reader on an initiatory journey. The acuity of the writing The photographer's visual style immerses us in a landscape that is drawn on the edge of reality and myth: mineral and plant world, pure skies, wooded mountains, expanses of snow draw the contours of a space where the contemplative mixes to the feeling of introspection. Reflection on the origins and culture to which one belongs and which is transmitted through language and traditions, this work questions the concepts universals of identity, transmission, cultural heritage. A story of The writer Kirmen Uribe questions the linguistic foundations of language Basque and its ethnographic resonances.