Prospettiva

Box set with two booklets: fold-out with 12 photographs + 24 pages of text (+ 6 photos)

220 x 285 mm
Limited edition of 300 copies
Edition in Spanish, Basque, English, and Italian
Design: Setanta

Prospettiva illustrates, through twelve Pinus pinea trees, the dialogue between tree species and the urban context of the city of Rome. This relationship, throughout history, has been shaped by social, religious, and, above all, political interests. Structured as a prototype of tree alignment, this photographic essay reflects on the role of nature in the construction of public space in the face of ecological challenges, and it examines its use in the representation of power.

In Prospettiva, the propagandistic programs of the ancient Roman Empire, the Baroque period, and the fascist era overlap, showing how pines, perspectives, and roads reconfigured the city to project prosperity and eternity to the world.

This project was developed during the author's residency at the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome.

José Ramón Ais (Bilbao, 1971) is a visual artist. His work reflects and experiments with concepts related to landscape as both a construction and representation, exploring emotional ties and the ways in which narratives, ideologies, desires, and utopias are projected onto nature. His practice is rooted in cultivating, observing, and documenting plants in a space that merges garden, studio, and set, blending photography and post-production techniques, fieldwork, and historical research.