What began as a casual gathering of friends with a shared interest in the history of county towns during the Civil War gradually grew into something bigger. Two years in, audiovisual producer Sam Molina joined forces with photographers Sento MM and Diego Jamon and poet Enrique Morte. The group, now a 13-year-old collective called Catharsis, crafted a dystopian creative project. They reconstructed phantom images of a contest that asked the question: how would war look if it happened in real towns today, even while realizing such visions existed only in memory?
They worked primarily with photographs, but not for immediate exhibition. They sought locations, recreated environments, and staged scenes with a theatrical vibe that was later recorded on video and then photographed. The cast included family and friends, who brought the images to life with costumes and props inspired by painters such as Caravaggio, Vermeer, and figures like Julio Romero de Torres. The group emphasizes that the work surfaced organically, not as a planned show or a photo book, but as a natural process that emerged from their collaboration. San Molina describes the approach as intrinsic to how they operate.
With a growing archive of material, the team is now aiming to stage an exhibition and publish a book currently in progress. They plan to fund these through a crowdfunding campaign launching on June 1 on the Verkami platform.
Catharsishe, a member of the collective, explains that the project is not a routine exercise. It merges distinct personal worlds into a shared practice that exists beyond individual differences and direct personal aims.
dystopia
Civil war remains a central theme, yet the perspective breaks from traditional depictions. The dystopia created by Catharsis is rooted in the era of the Spanish Civil War, without aligning with any particular faction. The focus is on the towns and the people who stayed, especially the women whose roles in defense and daily life offer a compelling narrative. The intention is to explore a side worth defending, not to advocate for one political stance over another.
The exhibition will go beyond a simple display of photographs. It seeks to immerse visitors in the experiences portrayed. The team plans to recreate landscapes used for the original shots so audiences can step inside the scenes, take photographs, and engage with the materials in a tangible way. Each element is designed to be touched and observed, inviting a direct encounter with history and emotion.
The book will assemble a collection of images and words and will include QR codes that link to short films and videos recounting the journey. The official presentation of this proposal is slated for mid-November, featuring the collection of about fifty photographs and roughly one hundred additional images, complemented by texts. The group emphasizes that the photos are not signed; a collective effort means no individual authorship or customization.
Alicante filmmaker Daniel Chaguaceda is preparing a documentary that traces the experiences of Catharsis to help realize the exhibition.