Las Sillas de la Explanada
Between 2016 and 2019, London-based photographer Alex Amorós has been documenting elderly people taking a seat at ‘Las Sillas de la Explanada’ in his hometown Alicante.
Words and Photography Alex Amorós
The mission of this project was to show an endearing and familiar place for many of us. Several generations of people from Alicante and visitors have passed and chatted during some time of their lives in such an emblematic and at the same time homey place.
Las Sillas de La Explanada have always caught my attention. When you take a seat on them time freezes, the Mediterranean character of our city is appreciated, in them many stories coexist and inhabit, they represent our past without discarding the present and the future.
My first major photographic project, Londoners, was about the isolation of big cities, speed, lack of time to spend a conversation with others and from a distance with human beings. This project began with a total different approach. I wanted to show the pause of time, the conversation, the connection with the subjects by listening to them, these are parts of the project that followed with a portrait capturing the essence of the environment and the person.
A multitude of anecdotes and good times have surrounded me during this journey. As a result of the pandemic, the project came to a halt, but at the same time it offered me the opportunity to show what pre-Covid life was like. This project is also a small tribute to our elders who are the usual residents of those chairs and who unfortunately have been the most affected by this tornado that has hit us during this year and a half .
"The photo that on a personal level symbolises this project is the one of my great-aunt Lolín Vives, who’s making an effort during Christmas Day 2019 came with me to be portrayed in perhaps her last walk in her own.
"In times where speed, lack of focus on attention and robotisation of the human species is usual, something quite appreciable in big cities, this project was born from the idea of showing life in medium-sized cities, calmness and communication. My humble contribution intends to do it through a place as significant as La Explanada and through something as clickable as its historic chairs and our elders .”
“The main objective of this project was to show an endearing and familiar place for many of us.”
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