A 'Rinconcico' from Almeria.
You open Instagram – that great window to the world, which is enclosed behind a screen – and the image of a path surrounded by desert vegetation emerges before you. Above it, the word 'Roots' makes you think of your own. The author is the photographer Javier Lozano who, without intending to, brought many users of this social network closer to those landscapes that we could not access, during the confinement experienced in 2020. “For all of you who live these moments far from your roots”, he exhibits in the photo caption.
During those months in which we were confined and in which the eyes and the imagination reached more desired and distant places, through the screens, that peeking out of windows, balconies and terraces, many were the ones who pulled files to escape from the reality that cornered us. Javier Lozano took it one step further and ended up turning this escape route into a photographic project deeply rooted in his land and its landscape and linguistic peculiarities.
On this image the photographer stamped the word 'Roots'.
THE ORIGIN
“Everything starts in March. They confine us and I, a free bird, accustomed to working in the street, enjoying the incredible scenery offered by our beloved land, Almería, I turn to my image archive to somehow ease that longing. We couldn't go out. Just going to the supermarket was already a challenge, so my photos were the only way i had to go back to all those places that, at a certain moment, aroused some kind of emotion or feeling. They made me move from the armchair of my house”, Javier tells.
And continues: “If there is an image that gave me a reality check in confinement, it is the one I called 'Raticos', since with her I realized that I not only longed for places, I also began to miss people. In the photo I am playing with a friend's son on the beach, on any given day, but at that time it was something unthinkable, neither touching nor seeing each other. We were isolated, suffering from a global pandemic.”
The photographer Javier Lozano.
LANDSCAPES THAT SPEAK BEAUTIFULLY
In his Dictionary of Almerian speech, the writer and pedagogue Alfredo Leyva brings together a compilation of words, voices and common popular sayings, where he alludes to “that way of naming and saying things that is ours, of giving musicality to the word”.
One of the many concepts he picks up is 'regomello', which he describes as follows: “resentment, restlessness, bad conscience. Feeling of remorse for having done or not done something. One of those terms of strong roots for the people of Almeria, almost smelling of esparto, and that, sometimes, it is difficult to explain to those who live from 'Despeñaperros pa'rriba'.
For its part, What gives Javier Lozano 'regomello' is seeing himself enjoying a Sunday at Playazo de Rodalquilar, while there are many of us who count the days to be able to soak in its waters. Lozano's photographs draw a very beautiful accent, well managed
Javier, in every corner here and there, finds a story in full color with which to speak to us in Almeria. They are his 'Rinconcicos', places to go to come across calm scenes, where it seems that time is not pressing and in which to feel comfortable, or "a gustico", as they say in those parts.
Cabo de Gata, by Javier Lozano.
DIMINUTIVES AND ASSEMBLY
Alfredo Leyva already explains it: “The people of Almeria use the suffix 'ico' for their diminutives, inherited from the Aragonese settlers, to the detriment of the 'ito' (bonico, carrocico, chavalico)”. For this reason, Javier, with his eagerness to confuse rheumy speech with the purely telluric, does not pass up such autochthonous creations as 'follaícovivo', one of those expressions that are part of the worldly chatter of the people of Almeria and that are formed by assembly, after crowding words that have to go together. Let the reader not think that this word means what it is not, that here we speak of "something or someone who is in a great hurry or is going very fast". Therefore, what is meant is 'arranged', to communicate more in less space. That it is already known, that time passes 'follaícovivo'.
Back to what counts Leyva, in his book, mentions the peculiarities of Almeria speech, alluding to the fact that "the forced coexistence of the Moors together with the settlers from Castile, Aragon, Murcia and Valencia, contributed to enrich the vocabulary and idioms of Almería, evolving differently from the rest of the previously conquered areas”.
Reason why many of the words that both the writer and the photographer collect in their respective compilations they are not exclusively from Almería, but are common in other parts of the Andalusian or Levantine geography . This is the case with 'leja', synonymous with shelf, ledge or shelf, or "each one of the boards of a shelf", which is one of those nouns that are used in a certain part of the easternmost Andalusia and also in the Levantine lands, but that they will not recognize plateau inside. It is curious, on the other hand, that in Catalan there is a similar word to refer to exactly the same thing: 'lleixa'.
Everyone would like to take their gear to the beaches of Almería.
AN EXHIBITION APAÑÁ
Lozano's project, far from what was initially planned, is taking him down unexpected paths. “What I never imagined is that something that I started for pure entertainment would have the reception that it had and is having. As I was uploading photos, many people wrote to me encouraging me to share photos from places that I had not published yet, they gave me ideas of words, including thanks, for showing him bits of his land or, simply, to help them relive the feeling of coming back. That's when I began to realize that this game was no longer just mine and that, somehow, was inviting others to start their own journey , through their memories, desires and imagination. I went to experience another feeling, that of happiness, seeing everything that was awakening in others” says the photographer.
An experience that is also bringing you the opportunity to move his 'Rinconcicos' – as he has called his work – to physical spaces, as is the case of the Joseba Añorga Tavern –always highly recommended for those who want to enjoy some good pintxos in the realm of tapas–, where you can currently see a temporary exhibition of his work.
'Leja' is one of those nouns that are used in a certain part of eastern Andalusia.
“Little by little we are trying to get back to normality, to socialize without fear and to reconnect as before, for this reason, the photos that were most liked during the hardest moments of the pandemic will be exhibited in different restaurants, leisure spaces, places where they help keep the good vibes flowing. Now that, little by little, we can go out, these places require our presence and if they help a little to serve as a claim, I am more than satisfied with it”, he comments on this step from digital to physical. In addition, this new adventure and after the high demand, includes the opening of an online store, so that anyone can have their own 'Rinconcico' at home.