Sergio Jimenez Foronda
Logroño, (EFE).- The endemic species of Reunion, an island located in the western Indian Ocean, have been the latest addition to the exhibition project “Universo Bosque”, which will feature photographs, a book and a documentary on the last primary forests that there is on Earth in its five continents to “create conservative awareness of nature”.
This was stated to EFE by one of the promoters of this “ambitious” initiative, the director of the Casa de la Imagen in Logroño, Jesús Rocandio, in charge of shooting the images that will make up this exhibition, which still has no opening date.
Rocandio and Imanol Legross, a teacher at Casa de la Imagen who is shooting the documentary that will accompany this exhibition, have recently traveled to Reunion, where Jaime Pérez Briones lives from La Rioja, to capture the endemic species of its primary forest, that is, never altered by the hand of the human being, who “has trees that only exist there.”
He has highlighted that, to guide them through the forest, which is a protected area, both have had the help of three expert botanists who work in that space, and who join the list of scientific collaborators of the project, who contribute, for example , with the drawings that will illustrate the book.
During this trip they also presented the “Forest Universe” project at the Université de la Réunion and at the Roland Garros High School on this island; and gave a conference on the Casa de la Imagen, La Rioja and San Millán de la Cogolla as World Heritage Sites for being the “cradle of Spanish”.
Regarding “Universo Bosque”, he explained that, currently, there is a current of photographers in Europe who work on how natural spaces are seen through their eyes.
He has indicated that “nobody had unified that look. What is new about this project is that look at those primary forests” and “behind it is a reflection and a call to attention about what is being done with the spaces that have the greatest biodiversity that exists on Earth”.
“It is a very ambitious project -he has insisted-, which has to serve to create awareness that we cannot lose these natural spaces no matter what.”
denunciation and beauty
“Universo Bosque” had an inauguration date at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, but “the covid-19 pandemic caught it and it has delayed it”, so much so that there are still two primary forests to be immortalized, one located between the border of Alaska and Canada and another in Papua New Guinea, has specified.
To date, both he and Legross have immortalized the primary forests of the Araucanía region of Chile, which is “the oldest remaining forest on Earth”; the Amazon, in Brazil; French Guiana; and Réunion, which is also part of France.
Photography, he continued, “has always dealt with denouncing violent situations in the world, such as wars and injustices”, and “this project unites two parts attached to the essence of what is purely photographic”.
He has specified that, on the one hand, there is “the claim that the world is ending at supersonic speed” and, on the other, to “make people reflect on this and take sides, it is done from the point of view of beauty”.
“We want this project, when it is finished, which will be a great exhibition and a documentary, to travel the world and people can enter a forest when they enter an exhibition hall”; In addition, it will have didactic sheets for attendees.
A project with a universal vocation
Rocandio recalled that the first time this project was presented was at the Würth Museum in La Rioja a couple of years ago, when those responsible made an exhibition about their art collection that had to do with forests, and, “of course they had photographs, they invited us to participate”.
Part of the images of “Universo Bosque” have been seen “in small sections”, like this one from Würth; and “there have been small pieces of work in galleries in Berlin, Madrid and San Sebastián”, but “it has not finished” producing.
In addition, he has highlighted that “researchers from all over the world are enrolling in this initiative, such as botanists and university professors”; and it has the support of the Foundation for Biodiversity of the Ministry of Ecological Transition of Spain because it is “a project that was born in La Rioja with a universal vocation.”
“Now we are looking for financing for the next two trips. Everything has been done with private contributions and some help, for example, from the Government of France”, she explained.
He has indicated that there is no sign of when the finished “Universo Bosque” will be presented, nor from where, although he would like to see the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid maintained, and it is clear that, afterwards, it will travel to the Natural History Museum of Chile.
“If we could finish it before the end of this year, it would be a success, so that we can start producing the exhibition and the documentary in the first months of next year,” he pointed out.