Roger Grasas
Ha Aretz, the Promised Land
Cal Garbat, S4
“Ha Aretz, the Promised Land” is a photographic reinterpretation of biblical landscapes carried out over a decade (2010-20) throughout the territories and countries that currently make up the ancient Holy Land (Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia…)
In close resonance with the biblical texts, the project carefully summarizes the arduous paths of prophets and disciples, patriarchs and faithful, thus documenting the ‘precise’ places where, according to archaeologists and biblical historians, the most famous events of the sacred scriptures took place. Starting from the books of Genesis, the Exodus and the Prophets, and following even the life, miracles and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Ha Aretz is proposed as a contemporary study about the place of faith and the sense of progress in a globalized world marked by consumerism, technification, alienation and conflict.
From the Sinai to the Sea of Galilee, from Jericho to Nazareth and from the Nile to the Euphrates, Ha Aretz reveals to us the battered physiognomy of roads as dire as they are hindered.
Roger Grasas (born in Barcelona in 1970) is a photographer and teacher who specializes in the field of documentary photography and the history of oriental photography. He holds a degree in Philosophy from the University of Barcelona, a degree in Technical-Scientific Photography from CITM, and a diploma in Optics from UOC. He has also completed specialization courses at the International Center of Photography.
Grasas is the director of projects at the Institut de les Desigualtats and a collaborating photographer at MedicusMundi. The central theme of his work revolves around the territory, with a focus on the connections between place and history. He blends documentary and personal photography to address concepts such as the role of technology and post-capitalism, as well as the state of estrangement experienced by humans in an increasingly sophisticated, indecipherable, and paradoxical world.
His series often explores topics such as difference, desire, and hyper-reality. Grasas has published several photobooks, including Atenea (RM 2018), Min Turab (RM 2018), Ha Aretz (Kehrer 2022), and Hotel, Sweet Hotel (Editions Possible 2023). His work has been exhibited internationally. In addition to directing the Diploma in Documentary Photography at IDEP, he also teaches specialization courses at the IEFC.
Curated by Natasha Christia
