The Sahrawi people, born from wars, bombs, and death, were forced into exile in 1975. Forty-three years later, almost by chance, I arrived at their main settlement: the refugee camps of Tindouf, in the southwest of Algeria, where I encountered a reality very different from what I had imagined.
There, I saw an inhospitable desert of dust and sand. A standstill in time, where everything flows, yet nothing happens. An immense wasteland that left me spellbound, fascinated not by its dunes or sunsets, nor by the romantic ruins that constantly pepper the landscape, forming a labyrinth of adobe houses and walls. What truly amazed me wasn’t the possibility of telling a story; it was its people, the inhabitants of the Sahara, the children of the clouds, who have managed to create life where it seemed impossible, where there was only sand.
The Sahrawi ritual of the three teas says that the first is bitter like life, the second sweet like love, and the third gentle like death. And anyone who speaks of this people will speak of death and the bitterness of their exile. I have chosen to show what, in my opinion, makes them extraordinary, what left me in awe, making me return: life and love in constant flux.
Forgotten Horizon of Sand speaks of affection, purity, and dignity, of magic, rituals, and tradition, of hospitality. It aims to be a tribute to life and a small window through which to glimpse the daily life of a people long unheard, a people forgotten on the horizon.
Exhibitions.
2021. Sala de exposiciones Facultad de Bellas Artes. Universidad Complutense de Madrid
2022. Castillo de Santa Calina. Cádiz.