Joan Sorolla's profile

Walter Benjamin a la (seva) frontera

Walter Benjamin pot considerar-se algú que, des de la seva feblesa física i de la seva situació de precarietat econòmica va acabar convertint-se en un gegant intel·lectual. Va rebutjar ofertes de treball per tal de dedicar-se al seus textos, tenia pocs amics i estava delicat del cor. Potser només des d’aquesta posició de feblesa, des del límit vital, es pot tenir la clarividència necessària per veure coses tals com que el decurs del progrés deixa molts cadàvers enrere o per afirmar que “no hi ha cap document de cultura que no sigui, ensems, un document de barbàrie”. La feblesa, entesa com a viure sota un perill constant i amenaçador, igualment com el dol o l’enamorament, potser potencien la sensibilitat i la clarividència.
Amb motiu de l’aniversari de la seva fugida desesperada he volgut retre-li homenatge amb un treball de fotografia i text. Un treball que recorre i contextualitza quasi de manera exacta, 80 anys després, aquella experiència vital al límit, des de Banyuls a Portbou. Un recorregut empàtic, que ha intentat posicionar-se en la situació del fugitiu amenaçat.
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Walter Benjamin can be considered someone who, from his physical weakness and his situation of economic precariousness ended up becoming an intellectual giant. He rejected job offers in order to devote himself to his texts, he had few friends and was delicate from the heart. Perhaps only from this position of weakness, from the vital limit, you can have the clairvoyance necessary to see things such as the course of progress leaves many corpses behind or to say that "there is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism". The weakness, understood as living under constant and threatening danger, as well as mourning or love, perhaps they enhance sensitivity and clairvoyance.
On the occasion of the anniversary of his desperate flight I wanted to pay him tribute with a photography and text work. A work that travels and contextualizes almost exactly, 80 years later, that vital experience at the limit, from Banyuls in Portbou. An empathetic route, with which I have tried to position myself in the situation of threatened fugitive
Walter Benjamin a la (seva) frontera
Published:

Walter Benjamin a la (seva) frontera

A tribute to German philosopher Walter Benjamin on the 80 anniversary of his flight from nazis and dead in Portbou (Catalonia) in 1940.

Published: