Tambo
México
I met Ale in the park in Coyoacán, I walked around several times before approaching him. I asked him what he was reading, I told him what book I was reading. I sat down with him. I told him about a disagreement with a person I had wanted to interview, but he had cancelled the appointment. We went for a coffee and it started to rain very hard. We stayed inside for a couple of hours.
Ale's curiosity about the process soon made it feel like a very horizontal collaboration. We did the interview, which was really a two-way conversation. From the exercises, two done in person and one (the present one) from a distance, we leaned towards that part of our own stories that was most difficult for us to put into words; to sensations, pleasures, dreams and intuitions. The bond developed out of mutual curiosity, the surprise of affinity and the desire of both of us to experiment with audiovisual language.
I think it gave us both a feeling of confidence, possibility and excitement about the encounter, after a period in our lives when it was less likely and seemed unlikely.
I wake up one sunny morning in Michoacán.
It rained all night, there was a storm the night before.
It rained very hard.
I go out of the house into the garden and walk to the water tank where the water falls.
I like the transparency.
I get closer and I see my reflection.
My reflection on the surface of the water, because the water is at the edge of the drum.
That almost magical tension.
I like to see how I am there.
My dark silhouette contrasts with the blue of the sky,
and I can feel the sharpness of the morning sky.
I place the palm of my hand.
As soon as I touch the surface, I try to feel the tension in it.
I avoid making waves or overflowing the water.
I feel the temperature.
The water is very cold, it was there all night.
It's rainwater, its coldness is atmospherical.
My hand goes down little by little.
The sensation of the edge is so subtle.
A boundary that can be crossed but it's there.
I like that feeling,
when it gets to where the folds are,
at the edges of the fingers towards the palm...