José Ramón Ais, Prospettiva, 2023

Using twelve Pinus pinea pines, Prospettiva illustrates the dialogue between tree species and the urban context of the city of Rome. A relationship that, throughout history, has responded to social, religious and, above all, political interests. Articulated as a prototypical alignment of trees, this photo essay reflects on the role of nature in the construction of public space in the face of ecological challenges and analyses its use in the representation of power.

Perspective overlaps with the propaganda programmes of the ancient Roman Empire, the Baroque and the Fascist era, when pine trees, perspectives and streets reconfigured the city to project prosperity and eternity to the world.

This project was developed during the author’s stay as a scholarship holder at the Royal Spanish Academy in Rome.

José Ramón Ais (Bilbao, 1971) is a visual artist. His work – reflection and experimentation on concepts related to landscape as construction and representation – explores the emotional connections and ways in which stories, ideologies, desires and utopias are projected onto nature. His work is based on the cultivation, observation and documentation of plants in an area where garden, studio and set are hybridised, a practice that fuses photography and image post-production techniques, fieldwork and historical research.