TRANSHUMANCE in Jaen, Spain

There are stories which have to be photographed to reveal their precious essence. Through these photographs, I would like to invite you to a transhumance journey through the drovers’ routes in the province of Jaén, one of the last strongholds in Spain where transhumance is still alive, although with the feeling of witnessing the decline of an ancient way of life.

Along my fourteen transhumance journeys, I have lived with the García Rico brothers, transhumant shepherds from the Santiago-Pontones municipality in the province of Jaén, the magic and harshness of transhumance. They have taught me a lot of knowledge that is not found in books but in pastoral culture, a legacy of empirical knowledge on which the great cultures that have preserved the land are based.

I intend to share images and feelings that help to make visible the huge environmental, social, cultural and economic work carried out by transhumant shepherds. A heritage that belongs to all of us and we have the obligation to preserve for future generations.As a photographer, this is the work to which I have dedicated the most time and energy with the aim of gathering a photographic corpus of an instant of the long past and future history of transhumance and it is a personal tribute to honor and respect animals and transhumant herders who practice regenerative grazing linked to the land. The future has roots and knowing them will allow transhumance to survive.

If you want to know more about transhumance, you can read my article in GEO magazine, catalog and exhibitions