Displaced II

The Llobregat Delta, in El Prat, province of Barcelona, constitutes an ecological enclave, internationally recognized by the European Union as a Special Conservation Zone (SCZ). Its importance is heightened by its strategic role as a stopover point for numerous migratory birds following the Western Mediterranean route, connecting Europe and Africa.

The research undertaken by Del Valle reveals, in his own words, that “The Llobregat Delta, a zone with an agrarian and natural past, is experiencing ‘the perfect storm’ of a multiplicity of interventions that have been strangling its ecosystem: occupation of land for urban purposes, industrialization of agricultural areas, alteration of the Llobregat River’s course, location and expansion of the port, and successive airport expansions. It is a ‘laboratory’ of human interventions on nature. And now, with a new airport expansion project, the La Ricarda wetland is under threat.”

Del Valle adds: “The birds, along with other species, are witnesses and victims of these destructive processes—they are the displaced.” Using a mixed technique of transferred photography and painting, he works on aluminum surfaces, as well as creating videos and installations. He uses aluminum as a material because, he points out, “it constitutes 90% of the material used to build airplanes, whose highest volume of operations is the justification for the new airport expansion.”