(No) soy de aquí,
Gustavo Alemán

(No) soy de aquí,
Gustavo Alemán

(No) soy de aquí/ I’m (not) from here was born of a faint but persistent discomfort, of the feeling of disbelief about my surroundings and of a dual rejection/attraction that this territory provokes in me. This work is the exploration of that discomfort and my beliefs about Murcia, the region where I live.

My Murcia is a grotesque and formless place, insecure about its identity. The signs and portents I have been photographing along the way are to me the unequivocal clues of this lack of identity. These surrealistic displays may seem simple jokes at first, but beyond their obvious humor a deep confusion and the desire to find some meaning or purpose can also be found. Even if the way to reach that goal is to use external references or borrowed stories, not too well understood.

So, my desire is not to offer just a parody of this crazy South or a comical taxonomy of provincial disasters. I think these jarring images speak as much about our present bleak economic crisis and poor prospects as about similar nonsense of the past. I hope that, by facing such foolishness with its distorted reflections we can find some way to escape these endless cycles.

Exorcism, homage, mockery and research at once, “(No) soy de aquí” is the (self) portrait, made by one of its confused inhabitants, of a place impossible but real.