Pilgrimage through Cercedilla

Venturing into her old childhood playground for the weekend, Ana Alcocer travels to the mountains of Cercedilla, Madrid. They are no longer inhabited by people, resulting in accumulated waste that she collects along the way. “I think that we should all do it,” she muses. “Be aware of the waste that we leave in our environment and how we should take care of the environment that allows us to live.”

In an otherwise untouched landscape, she spots old coats, boots and the usual plastic packaging. For Ana, the journey engendered reflection on the “need to spend time in nature [and] to be aware that we are a small part of the world that passes very quickly for something much bigger, to be aware of what we have.”

Capturing photos along the way, photography is a way for her to “find answers to the transcendental questions” that she says are always passing through her mind. “I run away from the normative looking for alternatives. My images, although sincere, question the environment that surrounds me.”

On what photography provides her, Ana says simply, “I love to look. I like to look at the things that surround me and ask myself questions. Capturing moments, places or people is something that moves me.” Continuing, “I think that in this fixation…I am solving problems and personal or not-so-personal issues.”

During her journey through Cercedilla, photography was a tool to reflect on the “traces of our ephemeral passage through this world” that leave information about our relationship with the natural environment.