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Carlos Spottorno – The Crack Back

Carlos Spottorno – The Crack

19 May 2021

We could publish a few pages from The Crack, the project by photographer Carlos Spottorno and journalist Guillermo Abril, in our annual magazine Common Ground.

Image courtesy of Carlos Spottorno

In his latest publication ‘The Crack’ – in collaboration with Guillermo Abril – he follows EU borders from Africa to the Arctic between 2014 and 2016. It is a book on European history in the making, portraying a continent in crisis as much as a multitude of individuals all trying to make the best of their lives in the midst of geopolitics.

He does so by a detailed research on particular stories – zooming in – and then looks for what connects them on a meta-level – zooming out. It thus becomes possible to imagine a reversed butterfly effect: how big historical events always influence the lives of millions. For as Spottorno says: “The border guard also leaves his home to do his job as best as he can. We can always choose to be good.” History for Spottorno is as much about the interrelated lives of individuals extending over space and time as it is about Big Events.

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