Introduction
Antonio Oliver suggested that I create a piece about the Spanish poet Carmen Conde’s work (1907-1996) using a digital medium. I was delighted by the possibility of reinforcing my study of the Spanish language, which I had started by myself about one year before. I didn’t know how much I would struggle with the poetry, looking up every few words in the dictionary. Verses were rich and powerful, I could hear my heartbeats, overcoming frustration of language limitations. As Carmen had been, I was deeply motivated by my first travels to Latin America. Her images of the sea, from Cartagena in Spain to Managua in Nicaragua, struck fear into tropical fierceness; the jungle, hungry, waiting to eat the city; all of this reminded me of my travels from New York to Venezuela. In Mar puro, I have created an oceanic journey, with Conde’s words as the crests of the waves breaking in a new shore.
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