The photographic project by Bleda y Rosa, winners of the National Photography Award in 2008, delves into L'Albufera de València with the exhibition 'Dehesa, 2026', which will be part of the collective exhibition 'La Albufera'. This new artistic proposal, opening in July at the Valencian Institute of Modern Art (IVAM), aims to analyze and highlight the multiple historical and cultural layers that make up this emblematic natural space.
Curated by Sandra Moros, the IVAM exhibition seeks to deconstruct the complexity of L'Albufera, spanning from the 20th century to the present day. It will feature works by artists such as Joaquín Sorolla, Gustave Doré, and Mª Dolores Casanova, as well as revisiting the photographic project 'L'Albufera. Visió Tangencial' (1985), which included contributions from creators like Gabriel Cualladó, Joan Fontcuberta, Derek Bennett, and Diana Blok.
The inspiration for one section of the exhibition comes precisely from this 1985 commission. It will include six specific projects, among them that of Bleda y Rosa. Their proposal starts from the historical demarcation of the lake in 1761, reflecting on the centuries when L'Albufera was a royal asset with monopoly and exploitation privileges.
The artists have created an intervention consisting of placing a set of contemporary markers with an inscribed graphite letter 'A', distributed along the current water's edge. This action dialogues with the original majestic stones, addressing the idea of boundaries and the geographical and cultural displacement of the places we inhabit.
This gesture proposes a reflection on the historical relationship between the marshland, the lake, and the dehesa. The work will translate into a large photographic installation at the IVAM exhibition, designed for the viewer to walk through, fragmented yet unique. For Bleda y Rosa, boundaries are meant to be redefined, as they previously demonstrated in works focusing on environments like the football fields of Godella or the goalposts installed between Pavías and Torralba del Pinar.
