`The most untamed pockets of wilderness in the Western world are to be found at the peripheries of big cities," Catalan artist, Xavier Ribas writes in relation to his own remarkable photographs.
In them, he depicts the inhabitants of his native city, Barcelona, occupying these pieces of urban wilderness for their own recreational purposes. The places are not beautiful, because they are usually left-over, waste spaces. But, at a time when leisure activity is a huge industry, people are drawn to them because of their very lack of definition. In a funny way, they represent a kind of freedom. This is spelled out in Ribas' striking images, which provide a wonderful account of how city dwellers relate to their environment.
His work can currently be seen at the Old Museum Arts Centre, College Square North in Belfast.
