José Manuel Navia — Nostós

PhotoEspaña
Círculo de Bellas Artes – Madrid (Spain)
From the 4th of June to the 28th of Sptember 2014

Navia shows us his most personal work, revolving around travel, memory and territory
The exhibition surveys twelve years’ work by a photographer for whom travel has become both a job and a vocation
Nostos, the new project by José Manuel Navia, was over twelve years in the making. In it, Navia reflects on life itself as the essential journey; after making travel both his job and his vocation, he shares his vision of the world with the viewer. The name of the exhibition and the accompanying book—published by Ediciones Anómalas—comes from the Greek term nostos, which expresses the ideas of homecoming, return, journey, path, departure and the possibility of coming back.
The work draws on three fundamental concepts: territory, in which every photo project is constructed; the journey leading to that territory; and memory, which gives the territory meaning, and humanises it. Navia fills this journey with pictures, just as a writer uses words. He intends the viewer to see the world and recognise rather than discover it, with the idea that this view will mark a return to one’s origin, a finding of oneself.