“I want to believe” addresses our longing to escape into fictional worlds and surrendering to the unexplained.
The photographs move between fiction and reality by emphasizing paranormal and religious symbols and science-fiction references. A new imaginary landscape is created, where the original locations are not revealed by any obvious or identifiable characteristics. The locations, the edit and the motifs themselves are intentionally selected to make it seem as if the series has been shot in an US-american landscape. The viewer is nudged to fill in explanations for the motifs and and an emerging narrative with their own imagination and associations.
In reality, the series combines two spanish locations that at first seem to have little in common: the Andalusian desert of Tabernas, which has been the production site for a large number of western movies, and the religious world of the Catalan monastery Montserrat, site of Marian apparitions, religious wonders and alleged supernatural phenomena. The narratives created around both places, whether they are religious promises, esoteric stories or the semblance of a fictional movie world, become real because people want to believe in them. The human urge to be enchanted and convinced thus unites both locations.
The Tabernas desert in Andalusia is Europes only real desert and thrives off its similarity to the stereotypical image of 'western USA' landscapes. Scattered throughout the landscape are several ruins of old movie sets and a few remaining 'western villages', which are still being used as tourist attractions with cowboy stuntshows and movie memorabilia.
Montserrat is said to hold mythological powers. Since the 1970s, a group of UFO-fans meet up every month at the Montserrat mountain range to spot UFOs - strangely enough, an actual unidentifiable object in triangular shape appears in a photograph of the series at the same mountain range. I submitted this photo to the german Society for the Study of the UFO Phenomenon, who analyse alleged UFO sightings. They found the object to be “strange” and couldn't provide an explanation yet.
The project was awarded with the ISO5000 photo prize of Hans and Annemarie Weidmann-Foundation in 2023, which included a solo exhibition in the English Church in Bad Homburg.
The project was awarded with the ISO5000 photo prize of Hans and Annemarie Weidmann-Foundation in 2023, which included a solo exhibition in the English Church in Bad Homburg.
Installation View, English Church, Bad Homburg © Lena Bils, 2024
