Era l’ora delle speranze e lui meditava le eroiche storie che
probabilmente non si sarebbero verificate mai, ma che pure servivano a incoraggiare la vita.
Dino Buzzati – Il deserto dei Tartari
A fort has a Direction, to look toward, and a Time, to wait. The Direction is the one of the frontier: it is, indeed, the stones looking at the ‘enemy’ that gather the majority of stories, fears, gazes, destruction, and reconstruction. Time is the one of waiting: between the walls a light wind blows, carrying with itself those almost imperceptible breaths and the voices of those who have walked and lived through these suspended places. It carries their hopes, their desire to leave, their longing for an event that breaks the monotony of an endless and sometimes meaningless wait.
This joint of fortifications of Elvas and Badajoz stands out today in its timeless majesty, towering over the respective towns and the Spanish-Portuguese border. Still. Embedded in the time of the wars between Spain and Portugal and in that of the Fantastic War of 1762-1763.
"à espera" starts from these reflections on time and the history of the fortifications, drawing inspiration from Dino Buzzati's book “The Tartar Steppe” as well as from the stories heard - during the residency "no ritmo do lugar"- during the visits to Forte da Graça itself and along the guided walking tour exploring the fortifications of Badajoz.
In a continuous interweaving of the real and the unreal, dream and reality, imaginary visions and vague certainties, Losurdo's photographs recount this suspended, still, silent time of the Raia fortifications. Through the use, mainly, of double exposures and evanescent black and white, “à espera” is a dreamlike journey into the history of these ancient places located on the border between Spain and Portugal, between Elvas and Badajoz.
Non si era dunque aspettato invano, gli anni non erano stati sprecati,
la vecchia Fortezza, dopo tutto, sarebbe servita a qualche cosa.
