Publication in Visual Art Journal - Lea Laboy
"When working with maps and spatial forms, do you aim to represent a real topography, or an emotional and mental landscape?
When
I began my adventure with psychogeography, I focused mainly on actual
topography, but over time my thinking began to evolve. I realized
that there weren't really any rules here that I couldn't adapt or
create for my own research needs. In my opinion, psychogeography
still remains a very open field, difficult to definitively
pigeonhole. Although it was officially named and defined in 1955 by
Guy Debord and associated with the activities of the Situationist
International, it actually originated much earlier and was widely
used by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, who is considered one of its
precursors. Drawing on the work of Edgar Allan Poe, I turned my
attention to the mental landscape. One such work is "Erasing
History," which, although it refers to an existing place, overlaps
three layers of time. The first refers to the 17th century, the
second to the period of World War II, and the third is the year 2024,
when I enter the space of this place. This place has evolved
throughout its history. First, there was a monastery here, then the
harshest prison where the Germans executed innocent people. It was
here that a young girl from my family was held captive by German
torturers who caught her in a roundup. From this prison, where
political prisoners were mainly held, there were only two options:
concentration camp or death. The child's mother undertook a
dramatic battle against time, risking her own life. You know, few
women would dare to speak out against the German degenerates, knowing
their methods, yet she proudly went with her head held high to
collect her child, bidding farewell to her family as if she would
never return. Today, this place where people were tortured and
executed is home to a cultural institution. In the summer, you can
hear the laughter of children and the chatter of seniors who enjoy
themselves at events here. This work explores the history of the
place, focusing on the emotions associated with it today after its
deliberate transformation into an entertainment facility, but above
all, it questions the humanity of those who made this change and
those who would come there to have fun. You can kill a person,
distort history, or erase it, but you cannot take away the nature of
a place because the stones scream. "
( Visual Art Journal, 2025)
