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carlanews · 3 years ago

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26/07/2021

Ex oriente lux (2018), en pofundidad, en el número de agosto 2021 de Monthy Photography, revista surcoreana mensual de fotografía y arte publicando desde agosto de 1966.

Ex oriente lux (2018), in depth, at the August 2021 issue of Monthy Photography, South Korean Photography Art monthly magazine publishing from August of 1966.

Entrevista en inglés / Interview in English:

You started <Ex Oriente Lux> when you were investigating the theoretical legacy of some French Occultists. Could you explain ‘the theoretical legacy of some French Occultists’?

I am deeply interested in everything that has to do with the unknown, understood as that which cannot be reached through the cognitive capacities, nor can it be domesticated, controlled or dominated. The French philosopher Simone Weil understands the supernatural as the love for the natural. Based on this, I suppose that this fascination I have for the supernatural, or what goes beyond the ordinary reality, stems from a deep love for nature and for reality itself, as it is. Likewise, through my work, I try to question the ‘mandatory reality’ or what belongs to the consensus reality, what is imposed, pre-established and assumed. As a result, I have always been interested in alternative narratives that defy rational logic.

France, and specifically Paris, is an authentic Masonic labyrinth that hides, behind its architecture and urban organization, a lot of knowledge linked to the occult and esoteric sciences. This is to say, all that unofficial knowledge that has accompanied Western history, although had remain in the shadows. France has been the place of confluence of many thinkers who have been located outside mainstream thinking. Thus, instigated by these motivations, I applied for an artist’s residency at the Cité des Arts de Paris, not only to visit libraries or museums, where I could inform myself about these subjects that interest me greatly but also to walk its streets to be impregned of this hidden wisdom that conceives the existence of issues that challenge the Western hegemonic logic.

Particurlarly, I was interested in studying the controversial figure of the French occultist Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre (1842 - 1909) and his theories about "Agartha", a secret underground kingdom established at the beginning of the Kali Yuga (Iron Age), according to the Vedic tradition in the 3200 B.C, approximately. This place is more advanced technologically and spiritually than our world and the system of government is what he calls the “Synarchy”. According to him, when our world will adopt the Synarchy system, Agartha will be revealed to us. Saint-Yves also mastered the art of releasing his astral body, and like this, he could visit Agartha by himself.

There are several previous versions of Agartha, or about a similar place, like Pauwels and Bergier version, Ernest Renan or the French freethinker, Louis Jacolliot (1837 - 1890) who created the Agartha myth. There is also an obvious resemblance to the novel by Bulwer Lytton “The Coming Race” (1871) or to “Ghostland, or Researches into the Mysteries of Occultism” (1876) published under the auspices of Emma Hardinge Britten, medium and founding member of the Theosophical Society. As well, the concept of a secret kingdom where wise people live and work existed since the eighteenth century within the Freemasonry of the Strict Observance, with what they call "Unknown Superiors".

These theories about the existence of Agartha supported by Saint-Yves d'Alveydre are related with the ideas affirming the existence of a hole at the North Pole and the hollow Earth hypothesis, fervently defended, among others, by John Cleves Symmes (1780-1829). They are also linked with topics from popular cultures, such as lost races, conspiracy theories, the Holy Grail, UFOs, the Apocalypse and others. As Ekkehard Hieronimus advised: "What is happening in the lower layers of society is certainly much more powerful and effective than what happens in intellectual circles".

I referred to your previous interview to know about <Ex Oriente Lux> It would be great if you explain more details and easier about <Ex Oriente Lux>

As you already know, this project started during an artist residency in Paris. I went there to study in-depth about some authors related to Esoteric and Hermetic Sciences, but also to be closer to the French Occultism tradition that reverberates everywhere in this city. Once there, nevertheless, I found myself totally overwhelmed by the complexity of this matter and, as its name already advises, by its hermeticism and secrecy. But as with every project I do, my first purposes end up always being modified as the reality itself brings new events that I need to adapt to.

For all mentioned above, “Ex oriente lux” is still open, it conforms the first part of an unfinished project. The title refers to the Latin phrase “Ex oriente lux, ex occidente dux” (light comes from the East, power from the West) alluding to the meaning of travelling to the East as a symbolic ascension to the light and wisdom source. The East as a symbol of the occult and otherworldly.

Thus, this first approach to this endless subject is through the most basic and well-known principle of the hermetic sciences -"as above, so below"- collected in the Emerald Tablet by Hermes Trismegistus. This means that as it is “outside” (for instance, the Cosmos) it is “inside” (the Earth). Therefore, there is a correspondence between what we see, and what we can’t see; what is far away and what is close; and so on. As a result of these ideas, the first part of this work is an installation composed by pictures of different types of stones and marbles taken at the Louvre Museum in Paris (a venue with powerful masonic symbolism and full of hidden codes). It depicts a sort of mirror of the cosmos in order to highlight the historic connection between freemasonry and stoneworkers - guardians of secret legacies transmitted through encrypted messages carved in the stones -. So, this photo-installation is formed by pieces of hypothetical planets and landscapes resulting from a sort of Big-Bang explosion, recalling the similarity these stones have with incredible otherworldly imaginary landscapes. These images are printed on transparent plexiglass and cut in different geometrical shapes. Moreover, the installation is completed with smoke, small mirrors and lights that form beams of light in the space.

The second part of “Ex oriente lux” is also based on the Law of Analogy but this time I focused on the ideas related to that what happens in the stars is directly connected with what happens on the planet and our lives. Starts rule the plane of formation of the material world, called the “astral plane”. This plane - another dimension - works as the motor and it connects the abstract - the world of the ideas - with the matter itself and the physical world. So, according to the occult sciences, it is the necessary intermediary for all transformations or movements to happen, this is, the engine of life. In this way, the moon and the sun, which in alchemy have a remarkable meaning as well as being the maximum symbol of divinity in theosophical esotericism, are aligned and reflected on Earth. They are basic elements of our everyday life and they depict the realm of reality. Specially, in the world of outwards appearances we live, not only for being more and more virtual, but even before Internet or AI, it was already a pre-establishedsociety living in a kind of organised scenery.

If I understood about <Ex Oriente Lux>, do you hope to show your interest and language that the important relationship between moon and sun in Occult science?

Both, the sun and the moon, as well as the rest of the stars in the universe, are crucial elements for all forms of esoterism, mysticism or alternative narratives that, for instance, don’t derive from Christianity. The most ancient cultures, the pagan traditions, considered them as objects of worship since they were a source of answers of all that we cannot control or understand.

Could you let me know the process to photograph suns and moons?

I photographed them with 35mm and 8mm film. Only the analogue film can organically catch those lights, since the burnt in analogue film is not necessarily a loss of information as it is in digital photography. Those inherent elements of film that are often treated as mistakes: overexposure, bleaching of the frame, lens flare or ending fading, I deem them to be something precious because these ‘errors’ are, in fact, faithful to reality. Film, as the sun and the moon, has its own life and it’s an alchemy process and it’s precisely this what I find interesting.

Besides, having been born facing the Atlantic Ocean, I have always had the opportunity to enjoy the whole daily journey of the sun, which is always very present in my hometown since it transforms the colours and lights of all that is around. This spontaneous attraction led me to photograph the sun in all its different ways, also because, it is never the same thing. I always felt that being able to enjoy it, it’s one of the biggest privileges I could have… Despite it is sometimes considered as a cliché of beauty, or its features tend to be exaggerated. For me, it a simply quotidian event embodying spectacular radical alterity.

Each photo work’s color (or sky and sun’s color) is different. (black & white, purple, red and so on). Is there special reason?

Regarding the alchemical character of film, I am interested in the transformation it implicates, which is uncontrollable and whose nature is unshowable. When you work with film it exists this relationship with alchemy and magic. Film evokes what it is beyond the rational self, as well as the immanent transcendence that the medium itself already holds. It triggers a kind of mystical experience or poetics. It is a journey to an unknown place, far removed from the actual world, to which analogue photography transports us and it cannot be replaced or reproduced by any other means. I allow myself to be free in the use of colours as a sort of celebration of the miracle of the photochemical and its uniqueness. This is to recreate the illusory and alchemical character of film as well as the blindness and mystery of the medium. There is not an unfailing desire to master the medium, but to appreciate its particular beauty, leaving room for the surprise of what is not preestablished or premeditated. Beauty is in that which is out of control, unfathomable, side-lined, that which is considered useless or unimportant. Beauty is in everyday life.

As you focus on the mysticism / Occult, What did you pay attention for <Ex Oriente Lux>?

When I started this project, I had a lot of curiosity about the occult sciences as was already mentioned. During my research, I learned about concepts such as the "astral plane" or the "law of analogy" but also, I approached an unknown universe for me. All those experiences were translated visually, in a reality-language related to the intimate, the spiritual and the most basic and direct experience of the world itself.

Do you have any message to people or What do you want the audience to feel?

More than messages, I would like my work to be received just as an aesthetic experience that brings new languages and approaches to reality. It’s rather about transmitting openness, to underscore the fact that things are never in just one way, but they can be in infinitely different ways; and about the enjoyment derived from experiencing them, instead of closing ourselves to the otherness. It’s about going beyond the compartmentalised and watertight thinking through which we often see reality. In my work, there is a desire to know what it’s beyond the specific, pragmatic and utilitarian world in which we normally are immersed. It speaks about breaking barriers and borders, about the necessity of being in contact with different types of cosmovision, what links it directly to travel, but it speaks also about other kinds of journeys, more intimates. This is, to softly touch what is very meaningful for us but never ends up taking a specific form, nevertheless. In my work, there is always something that remains unfinished and unclosed; something that can’t be grasped nor categorised. Therefore, my work is located in this liminal and bewildering area which is related to our internal labyrinth in which I decide to get lost and even surrender to that emotional experience; in order to reach a collective unconscious. It is an emotional mechanism that is profoundly human. My work is a permanent search that never ends up dwelling a definitive shape. An endless seek whose purpose never finds an answer. It’s about got steeped by the world and delving into our inner labyrinths. In this sense, it has an oceanic feeling. This is to say, there is a strong inclination to adventure besides the necessity of isolation. These are contradictory concepts, but it is precisely this confusion and indeterminacy that governs my work; a strong necessity to connect to the world but also of seclusion. My work is also about aspirations that never are accomplished. It has to do with temporality and imperfection; a sort of work-in-progress.

It’s funny that sometime after finishing this project about “suns” and “moons”, I discovered that in my astral map, the sun is located in the 12th house which is related to all the ideas mentioned above. Knowing this all this made some more sense to me. The 12th house has to do with the idea of labyrinth, it is the house of the incessant seeks that steadily sails through the uncertainty (…)

You made stone works with photo works. What does the stone work mean in <Ex Oriente Lux>? I just wonder why you work in stone as well?

Actually, it is plexiglass imitating stones. But they are transparent and light stones, like if they were trying to escape from the gravity that stone implicates. This approach to the factual character materials bring is always present in my practice because I consider my photography work not only as a succession of images. Rather, they conclude or find their ultimate meaning on a determined space and position, as well as time. Size, place and material are important issues I bear in mind when creating my projects. These aspects provide new meanings but also create a kind of “aura” due to the total experience we have when experiencing the work…

what was the most difficulties when you work for <Ex Oriente Lux>? Or Do you have any unforgettable story during work?

It was quite a challenging project. First, it was hard to decode all those so cryptic texts written by Alexandre Saint Yves. They are really dense and complex. They’re full of references related, for example, to Kabbalah, even more hermetic to me, or other subjects linked to occult sciences. Secondly, another difficulty was how to visually materialise all those ideas, languages and mental images I was immersed in. This is, what to photograph now?

Also, I decided to become a member of the Rosicrucian Order, but it was not that easy and it required a lot of dedication and continuity so, after a conversation with someone related to freemasonry, I had the feeling that if try to enter in that world, this is to really try to “understand” Kabbalah, etc, my life would probably change forever. New beliefs and information would completely take my life in a different direction. I am an extremely sensitive person, for the good and the bad, so I realised that I was not, at all, prepared for all that, at least in that specific moment of my life. Maybe one day in the future. In any case, this project opened my eyes to new realities and, somehow, it has already changed my view of the world.

It would be great if you explain 2~4 photo works that you hope to mention to subscribers.

This photo was taken during a Solar Eclipse in my hometown, Nigrán (Spain). It was probably the most incredible eclipse I’ve ever seen. I went to a place I love on a mountain called Monteferro with my friend Cristina, where there is an amazing view. It’s not rare that when we both meet; special things happen around. Just a few seconds before the sun started to be covered by the moon, a cloak of clouds coming from the horizon covered the sea very quickly. Suddenly, we could only see a dense layer of clouds as if we were in a high peak but actually, we were not that far from the sea. The light changed becoming slightly darker but not only that, but the whole atmosphere changed in a few minutes. It was breathtaking, we were in a totally different landscape. I had never seen the clouds moving so fast as if they were spirits coming towards us. After some minutes of the total eclipse, the clouds started to move away and everything becomes the same it was; a sunny, bright and clear summer day. I took the picture when the clouds were going back to the horizon, because before I was so amazed that I could not even react.

These two pictures usually are shown in two lightboxes that work as a diptych. They were taken very early in the morning, when the sun was rising, near the Mont Blanc Mountain (France), with a Super 8 camera using the one-frame shoot mood. This moment was after a strong snowstorm. The atmosphere was full of fog which worked as a sort of a diffuser for the sunlight. It was really amazing.

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