Javier Vallhonrat

The photographs by Javier Vallhonrat (b. 1953, Madrid) belong to a series of thirty-one photographs, Acaso (2001–3), that show a man coming to terms with an indeterminate environment, exploring ways of establishing a presence in a place via a conceptual or creative act. In Acaso No. 50 (Palafito) (2002), a figure curls up on a narrow platform, taking the form of a palafitoor stilt house, while in Acaso No. 69 (Volando) (2002) he seems about to take flight (the Spanish word volando means ‘flying’). The Spanish title of the series, Acaso, means ‘perhaps’, emphasising the extent to which the stories suggested by these images remain open to interpretation. Vallhonrat describes Acaso as ‘a set of actions leading to uncertainty as a method for self-knowledge and a way to ask unanswerable questions’. The panoramic format of the images and the twilight atmosphere in which they are staged serve to enhance the sense of a physical space that appears somewhat abstract or ethereal.