Discover Raphaëlle Peria's 'Ruina Montium' Photography Exhibition at PHotoESPAÑA 2026

This exhibition by Raphaëlle Peria, part of PHotoESPAÑA 2026, explores the transformed landscape of Las Médulas, a UNESCO World Heritage site in León. Peria's work moves beyond documentary photography, intervening on photographic surfaces to reveal latent forms and explore themes of geological memory, human impact, and poetic restitution.

Located in the province of León, the landscape of Las Médulas bears witness to radical transformation, notably the Roman technique of 'ruina montium'—a sophisticated hydraulic system used to extract gold by causing mountains to collapse. Centuries later, recent fires have stripped vegetation, revealing mineral surfaces and the historical forms inherited from this past. It is within this territory, shaped by water and revealed by fire, that French artist Raphaëlle Peria, a resident of Casa de Velázquez, situates her artistic research. While her images begin with photography, her approach diverges from purely documentary records. Peria actively intervenes on the surface of her prints, scraping, erasing, and drawing to bring latent forms to the surface. The photograph thus ceases to be a simple representation and becomes a field of exploration where the landscape appears to continue its transformation. In this series, Peria also incorporates photomontages featuring gold nuggets. These subtle inclusions evoke the site's mining history and function symbolically: where the mountain was once opened to extract its wealth, the artist seems to return these glimmers to the image, shifting the sense of extraction towards a form of poetic restitution. Between the erosion of water, the trace of fire, and the artist's patient intervention on photography, the landscape emerges as a stratigraphy of times and materials. Each image is constructed as a surface where geological memory, human history, and artistic gesture overlap. In dialogue with the festival's theme, 'Reimagining', the work invites a reconsideration of landscape not as a fixed form, but as a territory open to new readings and imaginings.

General admission is €7 for the exhibition and rooftop access, or €6 for exhibition only. Reduced admission is €5, and members of Círculo de Bellas Artes have free entry. Tickets can be purchased online or at the box office. The exhibition opening on June 5, 2026, at 1 PM is free entry.