For me every river is more than just one river. Every rock is more than just one rock.
It is a fact that a realtor looks across an open field and sees comfortable homes, while a farmer sees endless rows of wheat and a hunter sees a prey unaware of his presence. The open field is the same physical thing, but it carries multiple symbolic meanings that come from the values by which people define themselves.
For this reason, my work is an exploration of the landscape as the symbolic environment created by a human act of conferring meaning on nature. My attention is directed to transformation of the physical environment into landscapes that reflect people’s definitions of themselves and how these landscapes are reconstructed in response to people’s changing definitions of themselves.
Espacio Disponible focuses on the transformation of the physical environment into man-altered landscapes and how these landscapes define our culture and lifestyle. I consider that our understanding of nature and of human relationships with the environment are really cultural expressions used to define who we were, who we are and who we hope to be at this place and in this space. Landscapes are the reflection of these cultural identities which are about us, rather than the natural environment.
— Mónica Ortega, Murcia, Spain
