44 days

What pieces or projects have you been working on lately?
I’m working on several projects. One of them consists of photographing a butcher shop in El Raval every day. I like observing the everyday life that unfolds in that space: changes in light, people passing by, noise, calm, migration, gentrification, and more. I’ve also been photographing skaters; I’m drawn to the pause, the speed, the act of being just another spectator. In parallel, I continue to explore absence as both a theme and a state.

What did you learn (or unlearn) while working on them?
I’ve learned to observe more, to stay calm, to stop chasing the perfect image. Instead, I now observe until the scene accepts me. I also learned to stop thinking and simply feel, which is something I struggle with in my personal life as well. I unlearned the urgency of shooting just for the sake of shooting.

What words, ideas or emotions were going through your head?
I’m studying a postgraduate program in documentary photography in Barcelona, so migration is not just a concept; it’s my routine. Absence also appears constantly: the absence of my people, my habits, the life I left behind. I work from there, from what is missing.

Were there any conversations, movies, music, or books that made their way into that work?
At the café where I usually settle in, I met a German artist named Marc. He’s made my days there very kind; there’s a familiarity in him, as if we’d been friends forever. Music: a recurring song by La Bien Querida, “Dynamite.” And books, truly many; for now I keep returning to Sophie Calle and, through this focus on routine and repetition, I was introduced to Hayahisa Tomiyasu.

What's been the most difficult thing you've faced recently in your creative process?
Opening myself up to what I can’t control, understanding it, developing a creative side that goes beyond the ordinary, not taking pretty pictures for Instagram, understanding myself, and searching.

What is your favorite restaurant and what do you recommend we order?
Makan, always the duck. And on a Friday night, Hanks Pizza, the grandmother’s special pizza.

If your life were a movie this month, what would it be called and who would write the soundtrack?
Pfff… I’ve been in Barcelona for 44 days, my therapist asks me to count them. So it would be “44 Days Looking for Something I Know Is Not, and That Is Here.” And my soundtrack: I’m obsessed with Beharie, a Norwegian singer. I’d ask him to do the soundtrack. It fits the kind of nostalgia I’ve been living with lately.

Recommend one or more artists you follow who inspire you, and tell us what you like most about their work or their way of working.
I’ve just discovered a Japanese photographer, Susumo Shimonishi. His very clean way of photographing inspires me, as does Sophie Calle, Nan Goldin with her deeply intimate images. And a friend introduced me to a young guy on Instagram who makes incredible videos; his name is Gawx Art. I love his way of editing and storytelling.