Photographic edition of 8 numbered and bound in Moleskin notebooks, table measuring 300 x 70 cm, table lamp and window mounted text.
Dimensions of book when opened: 270 x 15 cm

“The images which make up Fila India (Single–file Line) portray a group of immigrants patiently standing in line in front of the Governmental Delegation in Barcelona in hope of completing the papers which will permit them to live legally in this country and in front of the main post office, where lines had formed motivated by the false rumor that their legalization could be facilitated there. The point is not to record the event taking place in front of the camera: The reality of a group of people submitted to an arduous rite of passage. On the contrary, the captured images are recomposed to offer a straightforward image of that which was happening in front of the camera’s lens and to establish an empathic relationship with the models. Discarding the supposed objectivity and precision of traditional documental photography, a discourse is constructed through use of the juxtaposition of the images, the framing and the choice of a format abnormally vertical for each of the photographs. Thanks to the use of these resources, the people portrayed in the images are subjected to a reality both opaque and oppressive, as that resulting from a technocratic administrative system indifferent to human suffering.

The use of the mythical Moleskin notepad, made popular by such writer/travelers as Bruce Chadwin or by 19^th Century explorers, has been transformed into a more appropriate tool for the have-nots than for the opulent citizenry, descendents of the ancient colonizer. The risk is run by those who have nothing to lose and can only wait for some improvement in their daily life.”

Eduardo Pérez-Soler