josef chladek

on photobooks and books

Sergio Castañeira - Limbo, ediciones anómalas, 2023, Cádiz

 

Hardcover, desgin by Underbau, text by Sergio Castañeira.

"Limbo" deals with a process of adaptation and metamorphosis. On 15 August 2014, I suffered an irreversible accident that radically changed my life, fracturing my cervical spine at C5 and leaving me quadriplegic. After a year without being able to take photographs, I entered a rehabilitation centre for the physically and mentally injured, where I began to take up photography again. This work meant a re-encounter with my way of seeing and exploring the labyrinth I found myself in. The images that moved away from the documentary and came closer to that intangible world I felt began to have a special meaning for me, something I didn't know how to explain. The shadows that envelop the whole book reflect the inner state of helplessness, despair and loneliness. Still, some lights break that inevitable atmosphere, hitting you with moments of hope and offering a respite. Despite everything, something always made me look forward, as seen in this photobook. When I left the centre, I realised, during editing, that the more introspective images work best, the ones where parts of my body or wheelchair were brought into the shot, as this project is clearly autobiographical. Also, the photographs that included my companions, as a mirror rather than a window, where I could see myself reflected, a key exercise to understand my state through them.Parallel to the images, I took notes in a diary with what they said to me and my reflections or poems I wrote. That's why this work cannot be understood without the conjunction of words and photographs, as I think it broadens the visual sense of the project.

Regarding the name of the project, I titled it"Limbo" because in this space, where I went from Monday to Friday, I established a work routine that made me feel part of a limbo or bubble concerning the world as it was before and the life I was living now. According To Christian tradition, to be in limbo is to be in a place of neither sorrow nor glory, in a kind of nothingness or being miles away. Hence, the saying"to be in limbo" of someone who wanders around in a state of delirium or absorption is used as if they were nowhere. The Latin word"limbus" is considered technical without a clear etymology. However, many authors indicate that it comes from the Indo-European root "lēb"(to hang over something, lip), which is the same root that would give the Latin verb "labi" (to slide, slip, fall), as well as from the word"labor, laboris" (effort not to fall). For all these reasons, I gave this project this title because this word was capable of reflecting that symbolic state between the past and the future, between tragedy and hope, between impotence and the act of moving forward with the pieces that chance has left me to continue.

https://www.edicionesanomalas.com/producto/limbo/

Pages: 80
Place: Cádiz
Year: 2023
Publisher: ediciones anómalas
Size: 22 x 29 cm (approx.)







 Sergio Castañeira Limbo

Sergio Castañeira Limbo

 Sergio Castañeira Limbo

Sergio Castañeira Limbo

 Sergio Castañeira Limbo

Sergio Castañeira Limbo


Sample page 1 for book  Sergio Castañeira – Limbo

Sample page 1 for book " Sergio Castañeira – Limbo", josefchladek.com

Sample page 2 for book  Sergio Castañeira – Limbo

Sample page 2 for book " Sergio Castañeira – Limbo", josefchladek.com

Sample page 3 for book  Sergio Castañeira – Limbo

Sample page 3 for book " Sergio Castañeira – Limbo", josefchladek.com

Sample page 4 for book  Sergio Castañeira – Limbo

Sample page 4 for book " Sergio Castañeira – Limbo", josefchladek.com

Sample page 5 for book  Sergio Castañeira – Limbo

Sample page 5 for book " Sergio Castañeira – Limbo", josefchladek.com

Sample page 6 for book  Sergio Castañeira – Limbo

Sample page 6 for book " Sergio Castañeira – Limbo", josefchladek.com

Sample page 7 for book  Sergio Castañeira – Limbo

Sample page 7 for book " Sergio Castañeira – Limbo", josefchladek.com

Sample page 8 for book  Sergio Castañeira – Limbo

Sample page 8 for book " Sergio Castañeira – Limbo", josefchladek.com

Sample page 9 for book  Sergio Castañeira – Limbo

Sample page 9 for book " Sergio Castañeira – Limbo", josefchladek.com

Sample page 10 for book  Sergio Castañeira – Limbo

Sample page 10 for book " Sergio Castañeira – Limbo", josefchladek.com

Sample page 11 for book  Sergio Castañeira – Limbo

Sample page 11 for book " Sergio Castañeira – Limbo", josefchladek.com

Sample page 12 for book  Sergio Castañeira – Limbo

Sample page 12 for book " Sergio Castañeira – Limbo", josefchladek.com

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Hardcover, desgin by Underbau, text by Sergio Castañeira.

"Limbo" deals with a process of adaptation and metamorphosis. On 15 August 2014, I suffered an irreversible accident that radically changed my life, fracturing my cervical spine at C5 and leaving me quadriplegic. After a year without being able to take photographs, I entered a rehabilitation centre for the physically and mentally injured, where I began to take up photography again. This work meant a re-encounter with my way of seeing and exploring the labyrinth I found myself in. The images that moved away from the documentary and came closer to that intangible world I felt began to have a special meaning for me, something I didn't know how to explain. The shadows that envelop the whole book reflect the inner state of helplessness, despair and loneliness. Still, some lights break that inevitable atmosphere, hitting you with moments of hope and offering a respite. Despite everything, something always made me look forward, as seen in this photobook. When I left the centre, I realised, during editing, that the more introspective images work best, the ones where parts of my body or wheelchair were brought into the shot, as this project is clearly autobiographical. Also, the photographs that included my companions, as a mirror rather than a window, where I could see myself reflected, a key exercise to understand my state through them.Parallel to the images, I took notes in a diary with what they said to me and my reflections or poems I wrote. That's why this work cannot be understood without the conjunction of words and photographs, as I think it broadens the visual sense of the project.

Regarding the name of the project, I titled it"Limbo" because in this space, where I went from Monday to Friday, I established a work routine that made me feel part of a limbo or bubble concerning the world as it was before and the life I was living now. According To Christian tradition, to be in limbo is to be in a place of neither sorrow nor glory, in a kind of nothingness or being miles away. Hence, the saying"to be in limbo" of someone who wanders around in a state of delirium or absorption is used as if they were nowhere. The Latin word"limbus" is considered technical without a clear etymology. However, many authors indicate that it comes from the Indo-European root "lēb"(to hang over something, lip), which is the same root that would give the Latin verb "labi" (to slide, slip, fall), as well as from the word"labor, laboris" (effort not to fall). For all these reasons, I gave this project this title because this word was capable of reflecting that symbolic state between the past and the future, between tragedy and hope, between impotence and the act of moving forward with the pieces that chance has left me to continue.

https://www.edicionesanomalas.com/producto/limbo/

Pages: 80
Place: Cádiz
Year: 2023
Publisher: ediciones anómalas
Size: 22 x 29 cm (approx.)