Juan Aballe started working in the darkroom while studying chemistry at the universities of Madrid and Berlin. After graduating as a chemist, Juan decided to fully devote himself to photography and visual media. He studied at the school of the International Center of Photography (NYC), and obtained his Master in Photography at EFTI School (Madrid). Juan’s work has been exhibited and published internationally and he has been awarded grants from institutions such as the Spanish Ministry of Culture, EFTI or Fundación Botín. He has lived several years in Germany and the U.S.A. and is currently based in Madrid. Today we look at Juan’s series Country Fictions.
Valley in Asturias, 2011
Eva, 2011
“Produced between 2011 and 2013, these images are the result of a series of travels to different rural areas and scarcely populated regions of the Iberian Peninsula. As several close friends began to think about moving to the country, I was confronted with the idea of leaving the city myself and starting a new life closer to nature. In Country Fictions, reality and my imagination come together to deal with my distant relationship with the rural environment and the emotions brought about by the idea of taking that step. These photographs are the visual expression of an inner conflict that has to do with “wanting to believe” in a better, simpler life. In what could be called a collection of daydreams, Country Fictions reflects on the photographic language itself and how we are influenced by previous representations and preconceived ideas about rural utopias. The illusion of escaping from contemporary society, the myths and hopes built around nature come together with the strangeness and the nostalgic look at a life that I might never live.”
Car in Castillejo, 2011
Urs’ bed, Pyrenees, Navarre, 2012
Country Fictions written by Juan Aballe
“We search for years, we imagine our future in better places where we could start over. We leave the city behind travelling for miles and miles, driven by hopes and dreams. Maybe there was once a countryside, a village with green and fertile meadows. Now we return to find only the remains of a disused scenery. We pursue a fiction, that of a peaceful rural life. We search for beauty in a landscape where we do not belong, where time seems to have stopped still. We live our own transition, our fragile utopia, trying to understand what we are doing here and who we are.”
Restaurante “La Tía Pura”, La Mancha, 2011
Dani and Marisol, 2012
Autumn landscape, Navarre, 2012
Home by a tree, Pyrenees, Navarre, 2012
Horse, Collado Hermoso, 2013
Eva, 2012
Riverscape, Sierra Norte, 2012
Julián, 2012
Tank and olive trees, La Mancha, 2011
Marta and Uma, 2012
Path to Karina’s place, 2012
To view more of Juan’s work please visit his website.