Erea's photography provides an atmospheric insight into the energy of places and people. She is originally from Spain and moved to London a year ago, the timing of which has been unfortunate. She has only got to experience the city for a few months before the pandemic hit. The arts in London she was drawn to, like other major cities, will be a very different scene after the crisis. Despite this, Erea claims that London has already shaped her in many different ways. It is a "diverse and vibrant place" that allows you to "find the things that fit you and your lifestyle."   The diversity in London makes the city an "epicentre of culture and creativity," which helps influence Erea's interest in people, subjects, cultures and subcultures. "It's a very interesting place to discover yourself and to get lost". She says that she has experienced an interesting balance between collaboration and competitiveness because most creatives are in the same boat. This is partly because it is one of the hardest cities to live in in Europe,

 

"there is no sun here, no pause, there is no going out for 20 pounds a night and making it to the end of the month with 100 pounds left in your bank".

 

For Erea, this shows us the need for creatives to collaborate and come together in order to bring projects and ideas to life. She notes that London is not for everyone but it has taught her a lot about herself including "how to create more with less." 

 

When I asked her about what led her to pursue photography, she replies "it was almost accidentally, really." She had no academic or practical background in the arts or photography so did not know what she was doing. After some time she borrowed some of her dad's old cameras which sparked her interest in analog photography. Her university had a darkroom and she fell in love with it. "I would basically spend nights in there."  The intricate stages of shooting in film acted as a form of self-reflection for Erea, not necessarily the action itself but the process that came after: developing, processing the film, making it come to life. She claims it became almost meditative because it was "time I had only for myself". 

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Erea tells me "I am a storyteller" and her works act as a "visual condensation of words." She wants all of her pieces to evoke emotion within the viewer. She has always been a writer, yet photography acts as a form of communication that engages well with a wide audience.

 

"We live in a time where our attention span has significantly decreased, people need to feel engaged with the subject immediately and for that images are more attractive to people than taking the time to read through some lines"

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In the future Erea wants to combined her passion for the moving image and for writing. She wants to "explore a new way of telling stories." For now, she is still figuring out her place and creative position in this new normality. She wants to give herself time and allow herself to become more experimental with the process of creating her images.

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Asking Erea about what she regards as a meaningful shot, she states that "a meaningful photo would be a relevant photo". As an artist she feels she has to "tackle real life topics and address them." The power creative expression holds means that we must try to build our own revolution with it, she explains, "as long as something is meaningful to you, it will be meaningful to others." 

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