el gachi

This project emerges as an endeavor aimed at bringing forth and showcasing the town of Linares, currently concealed due to the scarcity of younger population, to a broader audience. It originates with the fundamental notion of reevaluating poverty through a lens of visual mediums, providing a platform for expression and amplification of its rich culture.

How to face the distance when not even trains glide as swiftly across the ground as the icy frost of time does along the edges of life? I sit to observe, seizing every moment to envision what awaits me upon arrival. I count the remaining kilometers; all around me, everything offers clues about what I’m going to encounter. I told them to wait for me at one, yet the train was delayed. The landscape is dry, arid—everything you come across are oases in the desert of the countryside. Olive trees blanket the hills like a cloak; now I under- stand why my hometown is so hot. If I were wrapped in a blanket of trees like this my whole life, I’d be too.

What is Linares to you? Home. Linares is my home, the place where I’ve grown up, the only location I know, and where it knows me too. Linares is my soul; it holds my essence and my family. Everyone leaves, but you always return to Linares. How would you define the town for you? Linares isn’t a town; it’s a city. It’s never felt small, but then again, I’m quite petite. Maybe I was made just the right size to inhabit the here. What do you like most about living here? To be honest, I don’t particularly enjoy living here, but the city seems to me like a forest of vines. Why wouldn’t you go somewhere else to live? Where would I go? What does Linares provide you that no other place does? It’s given me my greatest joys - all of you - but it’s also taken them away. You’ve all withdrawn from me. Is there something you miss while being here? You all. Are you happy here? I was. Why is Linares called “el gachi”? Only who is from “er gachi” knows...