Photos and notes from Barcelona

I recently spent a few days in Barcelona, I photographed a wall in a tiny back street, the road was narrow, surrounded by high walls, flaking and old. In some areas there were scratches and writing on the walls - places where people had left their traces on the street. The peeling layers of paint, and cracked plaster revealing bricks beneath, seem like layers of time and memory. The way the patterns on the wall have faded, peeled and are dissapearing over time seems like the way memory works. Looking closely at the patterns, the colours seem subdued and muted - were they once bright, crisp and colourful before they were covered over the years by layers of grime and pollution? These layers are like stains, worn and faded patches on fabric or clothes, becoming thin and worn over time.
There are so many layers in these images. The exposed concrete on the top photo seems to float over the pattern, slowly engulfing it over time. Over the top of this someone has scratched words onto the wall - yet another trace; these separate layers all merge together to form the story of this wall. Perhaps a story of splendour and ornate pattern, then abandonment, neglect , forgetting and being reclaimed in new ways..