“In Europe 40 million people had died. But the convenience of crossing borders without papers has forgotten all that.” (Umberto Eco, 2.013).
The “After Schengen” series shows old border crossing points between
different states in the European Union. After the Schengen agreement, most of these old checkpoints remain abandoned and out of service, allowing us to gaze into the past from the present. It causes many reflections, especially in a moment that EU project it is severely discussed.
These places that prior the Schengen treaty, delimited territories and in which the traveler had to stop and show his documents, currently appear as abandoned places, located in a space-time limbo, out of use and out of the time for which they were designed, as these states have opened their borders to the free movement of people.
Border crossings have a function of geographical boundaries, but also a coercive role, since they prevent the free passage of people between one and another state. So, they are places that, along with a cartographic dimension, are provided with historical, economic and political reminiscences.
These old border crossing points are slowly disappearing; some are renovated and reconverted to new uses, some are destroyed for vandals, and some other just fall down due to the passing of time. So, after some few years there will be no possibility to look at this strong signs and symbols of the recent European history.
“He was only 5 years old when he crossed their first border, the border between France and Switzerland, and he was astonished not to see the red and lilac line that on maps, so closely scrutinized and that were his first game, marked the boundary between the two countries” (A Brief History of Portable Literature, Enrique Vila-Matas)
Ignacio Evangelista es un fotógrafo español con sede en Madrid (España). Tiene una licenciatura en psicología. En su serie fotográfica se muestra la relación, a veces contradictoria, entre la naturaleza y lo artificial. Aunque las series pueden ser formalmente muy diferentes entre sí, siempre hay un tema común subyacente en todas ellas, relacionado con la huella humana. Sus temas también se centran en lugares o situaciones donde algo parece no estar en el lugar correcto (lugar físico o temporal).
Sus obras se han expuesto en Estados Unidos, Alemania, Francia, Holanda, Suiza, Canadá, Reino Unido, Hungría y España, y se han publicado en medios tales como CNN International TV Channel, ARTE TV Channel, The Independent on Sunday, POLKA Magazine, L ‘Oeil de la Photographie, Citylab- The Atlantic, Der Spiegel, VICE, The European, Haaretz, ArchDaily, Domus Magazine, La Repubblica, El País Semanal, La Vanguardia y El Periódico de Cataluña, entre otros.
En 2.017 obtuvo una de las ayudas a la creación de Artes Visuales de la Comunidad de Madrid, por su serie en proceso “VOR: antes del satélite”.
En 2.015 obtuvo una residencia en Hermosillo (Sonora, México) dentro del programa de residencias artísticas “Transvisiones” del Centro de Arte de Alcobendas (Madrid, España) donde desarrolló su serie “La línea del mapa”.
En 2.013 obtuvo el premio “Project Development Grant” para trabajos en proceso, de CENTER Santa Fe (New Mexico, EE.UU) por su serie “After Schengen”.
© text and pictures by Ignacio Evangelista