The Gathering Clouds
Ben Roberts
In September 2007, I flew out to Granada in Spain. My intention was to take a week’s break after a busy summer in London. I had spent time in the city eight years previously when my sister was living there as a foreign student, and was looking forward to a week of sightseeing and tapas. However, as I looked out of the bus window on the journey from the airport to the city, I saw a landscape that had changed drastically in the period since I had last visited. The city had exploded beyond the confines of its motorway ring road, and new housing developments were appearing on the fields and mountainsides surrounding Granada. Spain was in what turned out to be the final throes of a huge economic and construction boom. Fuelled by consumer confidence, EU investment and an aggressive tourist industry, Spain’s property developers had changed the physical and social landscape of the countries suburban spaces. In that first week, I began to document this phenomenon. I returned to Spain 3 months later to photograph similar scenes in Catalunya. At the time of my original visits, the writing was on the wall for the Spanish economy. A Greenpeace report from 2006 reported on 3 million planned new homes and 200,000 new hotel beds, in spite of a wane in the numbers of tourists visiting the country. By 2008, unemployment had risen to almost 15% nationwide, and uptake for new houses was diminishing. From being one of Europe’s powerhouses, Spain was standing on the precipice of an economic collapse. Funded by a BJP/Nikon bursary, I was able to return to Spain throughout 2009 to continue this body of work. An 18 month break in documenting this project had seen changes in both Spain’s outlook and in my development as a photographer. While Spain as a country is now in the grip of a deep recession, my approach to image making has become less literal. Instead of methodically researching locations and developing contacts, my approach has become more exploratory and incidental. My visits to Spain in 2009 have been based around long meandering walks through the urban fringes, with the routes only partially planned with the aid of online satellite views of the terrain. The new work reflects a more personal experience of Spain. Away from the major tourist centres and coastal resorts, I found a landscape imbued with a strange mix of anxiety and tension, where the delineation between nature and city had become ambiguous. “The Gathering Clouds” contemplates Spain’s loss of direction, and my own disorientation in an unfamiliar and sometimes unnerving environment.
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265171 An unoccupied new home, Roda De Bara, Spain. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265241 Holiday homes are viewed through ancient pine forest, Sant Pol. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265183 Tourist apartments in Salou, Spain. The Mediterranean coastline of Spain has been ravaged by the speed of tourist development over the last 30yrs, often at the expense of fragile coastal ecosystems. With development outstripping demand, thousands of apartments and holiday properties remain empty even during the peak summer months. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265220 A new housing development sits precariously over a gorge in Granada, Spain. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts/Picturetank ROB0359182 Early morning, Castillo de San Fernando, Alicante WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265222 An assortment of drain covers occupy a street corner on an incomplete new housing development, Granada, Spain. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0145581 Ancient olive groves for sale, most likely to be used for new housing. Granada. Throughout the coastal regions of Spain, there is an ongoing struggle between developers and conservationists. WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265238 Construction site in Sevilla. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0145445 Calle Ojos Del Salado - complete new housing complex that lies empty on the outskirts of Granada. WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265245 New housing estate in Zaragoza, Spain. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265239 One of many houses for sale on the outskirts of Sevilla. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0145249 Housing development replacing old olive groves, Granada. WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265174 Cederic sits in the morning light in Kike's kitchen, St Feliu De Guixols. STRICT EDITORIAL USAGE CONFORM TO CAPTION AND CONTEXT. WITHOUT MODEL/PROPERTY RELEASE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265230 A view from a hotel room to construction sites in Murcia, Spain. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts/Picturetank ROB0359183 Storm clouds gather over Benidorm. WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265231 A cycle path is ended abruptly by electricity pylons and a construction site, Murcia. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265223 A partially built villa stands testament to Spain's economic crisis. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265198 Grass and weeds explode through the former home of a paving stone, Roda De Bara, Catalunya WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts/Picturetank ROB0359184 Storm clouds over the Mediterranean from the Sierra Helada Natural Park, Benidorm WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts/Picturetank ROB0359191 Jesus poster, Calle Del Pozo, Alicante WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0145252 A motorway passes old industrial and agricultural land cleared for development, Granada WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265233 A gas substation is surrounded by decapitated trees, Sevilla. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265199 Grass and plants grow through a park bench. In this new development Platja Del Francas, recreation infastructure was built before enough houses had been sold to make the project viable. Much of the facilities now lie in a state of disrepair. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265235 Power lines tower over slum accommodation built by Romanian migrant workers, Sevilla - September 2009 WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265216 Hikers congregate to watch the sunset in the Monachil gorge, Sierra Nevada. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0219718
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265204 A dog guards a cement distribution depot, Estella, Spain WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265191 An empty parking lot on the Mediterranean coastline is daubed with anti-immigration graffiti. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265202 Fanny in the stairwell of her home, Barcelona STRICT EDITORIAL USAGE CONFORM TO CAPTION AND CONTEXT. WITHOUT MODEL/PROPERTY RELEASE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265217 Graffiti and a partially removed poster on a disused shop window, Sevilla. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts/Picturetank ROB0359187 Abandoned Estate Agents, Benidorm WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts/Picturetank ROB0359188 Residential skyscrapers (some incomplete, some partially inhabited) in Benidorm. WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265228 A decrepit residential property marked "Se Vende" (for sale) in RIbera De Molina, Spain. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265224 Stormclouds gather over Murcia, Spain. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265226 Garage door with handprints, Ribera De Molina, Murcia - September 2009 WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265229 The remains of a fire on wasteground near Torrealta, Spain. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265232 A truck stands on a wasteground near Murcia, Spain. WIDE EDITORIAL USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265237 An apartment block entrance stands unfinished, Bibao, Spain WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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Ben Roberts / Photodebut / Picturetank ROB0265206 "Viva Espana" graffiti in Estella, Spain. WIDE USAGE. Infos : +33(0)143 15 63 53. |
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