The archaeological parks tend to be spaces designed with an urban mentality and for tourism (entrance fees, souvenirs, toilets, picnic and rest areas, etc).

Paradoxically, the presence of this historical memory of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization can be perceived more intensely in its overgrown invisibility than in the reconstructed spaces of the archaeological parks, which are somehow disappointing in their inevitable similarity to the character and aesthetics of theme parks. This 'periphery' of the city, and in a sense of archaeology, or of history, is the subject of these photographs. The sprawl of this ancient Maya city, made up of 'squares' (plazas), roads and common residential structures, is of secondary archaeological interest compared to its ceremonial centres and elite residential compounds, and it tends to remain unexcavated, deep in the rainforest floor, estranged from the work of archaeological documentation and historical interpretation that begins exploring from the center. However, this disorganized and entropic space is, in fact, a historical site, the site of an ancient Maya city buried beneath the rainforest floor. At first glance, these images make us think of a wild space, natural, undefined, as if without motif. These images 'bursting with jungle' represent the edges of archaeological excavations, they look outwards, trying to capture an unconstructed space. These images represent tangled fragments of jungle, with no horizon, discontinuous, indifferent, interchangeable. ' One is always crossing the horizon, yet it always remains distant.'

Installation Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 2014 © XAVIER RIBAS - Invisible Structures (2006) 15 C-Type prints size 120 x 155 cm. Xavier Ribas - Photographer - Invisible Structures 1

Espacios invisibles