San Juan Night Tour
Lidia Esther Díaz Gil
Because of the funny and colourful panorama, the "Ricos" frequently appear in guides, postcards and promotional posters of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Still, they are not part of the recommended tourist routes. It is a fact that is surprising because, from its privileged location, you can enjoy unbeatable views of the port and the entire east coast. For the tourist, they become like this in a multicoloured and picturesque backdrop reflecting the Arcadian and paradisiacal fiction with which the Canaries are identified. The darkness and urban lighting transform that chaotic agglomeration of colourful houses into an elegant and even idyllic night image. However, an inner journey through its silent passages and alleys reveals that nocturnality, far from masking why the visitor is advised only distant contemplation, reveals powerfully the uncomfortable reality that is trying to hide. With this work, I intend to reflect on the processes of rationalization that tourist propaganda uses and how these intervene in the perception of the territory and this in turn in the collective identity of its inhabitants. Through mixed processes and alternative photographic materials, the photographic document becomes an aesthetic object, turning a disadvantaged territory into a landscape.
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