Bernard Plossu: The land of landscapes

The Centro de Arte y Naturaleza (CDAN) presents an exhibition that takes a look at the landscape of Huesca through the images of French photographer Bernard Plossu. Over a period of two years, Plossu visited different sites in the province of Huesca to create a photographic archive made up of over 370 images that have now become part of the CDAN's collection.

A catalogue with texts by writer Antonio Ansón, who accompanied Plossu on some of his walks in the sierras of Huesca, will be published in conjunction with the exhibition. Over the course of his career Ansón has investigated the links between photography and literature.

Collaboration between the CDAN and the Huesca School of Arts led to a workshop on landscape photography, conducted by the artist in March 2008. The workshop was held in Bara, the Nocito Valley, in the Sierra and Canyons of Guara Natural Park. Thirty people took part, most of them students, alumni and teachers at art schools in Huesca, and artists from Aragon and other parts of Spain. The first stage was devoted to fieldwork in Guara. The second session, held in October, gave the students an opportunity to show the results of their work. The photographs they produced were viewed by Plossu, CDAN staff, Aragonese photographers Rafael Navarro, Pedro Avellaned and Enrique Carbó, Paloma Castellanos (a curator and historian who studies photography), and writer Antonio Ansón. Along with the exhibition of works by Plossu, visitors will be able to see a selection of photos created by workshop participants. Their work will also be featured in a catalogue.

The CDAN has sought to bring together photography and literature in a publication that gives expression to the way poet Paco Grasa sees the same landscape Plossu has explored. The aim is to take an innovative approach by juxtaposing two artistic disciplines, with the landscape of the Alto Aragon region providing the common backdrop. It is also hoped that the catalogue will help foster a renewed appreciation of the cultural value of this landscape.

Bernard Plossu
The land of landscapes