honorable mention
tommaso rada portugal
title
(untitled)
From the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea these mountains change, like people and communities that live the territory, but every rock, river and waterfall of the Pyrenees has a story to tell; over the centuries, these mountains have been crossed by armies and pilgrims, they offered an escape to refugees and minorities, the have been the scenario of epic wars, and violent dictatorships.
The Pyrenees saw the debacle of Charlemagne and the dead of Roland, hosted and protected mysterious peoples like the Basques and in the middle age, the mountains hided the Chatars, a religious group that protested against the corruption of the Catholic Church. The same routes used by the Chatars escaping from the Catholic persecutions, were used again by Spanish refugees fleeing the Civil War and, later on by the partisans fighting against the Nazi occupation.
With the creation of the European Union, the wars that have been crossing the Pyrenees ended and the region knew an unprecedented stability. However, the political system created after the Second World War appears very fragile. Despite the pacification of the Basque country and the disarmament of E.T.A., the region is still living a delicate period which would require a sense of unity frequently threatened by secessionist political movements that promote the ideia of an impossible unity within the difference. As many borders, the Pyrenees are where the symptom of the "European sickness" can be more visible but are also the place where experimentation and new ideas are raising.
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entry description
The legend by the Greek mythology recounts that the name of the Pyrenees Mountains come from Pyrene, the daughter of Bebrex. The mountains would be a monuments built by Hercules to pay homage to his beloved Pyrene.From the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea these mountains change, like people and communities that live the territory, but every rock, river and waterfall of the Pyrenees has a story to tell; over the centuries, these mountains have been crossed by armies and pilgrims, they offered an escape to refugees and minorities, the have been the scenario of epic wars, and violent dictatorships.
The Pyrenees saw the debacle of Charlemagne and the dead of Roland, hosted and protected mysterious peoples like the Basques and in the middle age, the mountains hided the Chatars, a religious group that protested against the corruption of the Catholic Church. The same routes used by the Chatars escaping from the Catholic persecutions, were used again by Spanish refugees fleeing the Civil War and, later on by the partisans fighting against the Nazi occupation.
With the creation of the European Union, the wars that have been crossing the Pyrenees ended and the region knew an unprecedented stability. However, the political system created after the Second World War appears very fragile. Despite the pacification of the Basque country and the disarmament of E.T.A., the region is still living a delicate period which would require a sense of unity frequently threatened by secessionist political movements that promote the ideia of an impossible unity within the difference. As many borders, the Pyrenees are where the symptom of the "European sickness" can be more visible but are also the place where experimentation and new ideas are raising.
about the photographer
Tommaso Rada is an Italian photographer currently living in the north of Portugal, in Braga. He attended several workshops taught by Alexandra Boulat and Gary Knight, Franco Pagetti, Jan Grarup. His works has been published in several magazines and newspapers such as Financial Time, Der Spiegel, Monocle, Popoli, Popoli e Missioni, Private online edition, Expresso, Helsingin Sanomat, Courrier International, Le Pelerin, Washington Post and Forbes Brazil. He collaborated with Unicef Mozambique, Comunità di Sant’Egidio and Habitat for Humanity Portugal.back to gallery
