"One day it occurred to me that some people stand in the sun because the cold of death has already settled inside them." (Delibes, 1959)


The Red Leaf is a post documentary photographic project that I developed in between Europe & USA (Los Angeles) in response to the ongoing fentanyl crisis and political landscape instability. The work brings together urban landscapes, still life, and images of bodies living in the public space. Rather than approaching the subject through spectacle or moral judgment, I focus on how a structural crisis becomes normalised and absorbed into everyday urban life.

The title is taken from Miguel Delibes’ novel La hoja roja (The Red Leaf), where the red paper inside a booklet of rolling papers signals that only a few sheets remain. It is a discreet warning, easily overlooked, announcing exhaustion rather than rupture. I adopt this metaphor to reflect on a contemporary condition in which signs of social collapse are fully visible yet collectively ignored.

All images are produced using natural light, primarily at dusk. The fading light and long shadows operate as a formal and ethical device, revealing and concealing at the same time. This transitional moment between day and night allows the image to remain unresolved, resisting clarity or closure. What is shown is partial, inviting the viewer to remain attentive rather than seek explanation.

Still life images punctuate the sequence as moments of pause. Discarded objects and fragments of the city are photographed with the same attention as human presence, suggesting a shared state of exposure and abandonment. Meaning emerges through repetition, proximity, and silence, rather than through narrative or statement.

Developed within a political and economic context that prioritises individual responsibility over collective care, The Red Leaf reflects on how looking away becomes habitual. Through this project, I understand photography as an ethical practice of sustained attention: a way of remaining with what is visible, precisely where it is most convenient not to look.

2024+2025