PATRICIA ESTEVE

Patricia Esteve is passionate about images and has chosen photography as a means of communicating beyond borders. She has been working as a photographer since 2000 focusing in documentary photography developing long-term projects around Asia, Europe, and Africa. She has collaborated with media, NGO and UN Agencies. In addition, she carries out educational projects and participatory photography workshops where the image becomes the tool to create social change.

NDakaaru Project is a visual and reflective journey through real and imaginary places in the Senegalese capital. Based on the book Aller et Retour by Ken Bugul, we discover a city whose streets hide a wealth of stories, life experiences, emotions and History. Guided by Bigué, its protagonist, we realize that, despite the passage of time, the city continues with its same impulses and, deep down, it hasn't changed that much. Here is where Ndakaaru was born as a project, with the main idea of capturing this nostalgia for a time gone by in contrast with the city of today. Using the ancient photo procedure of cyanotype, I combine texts from the novel with current images and my own interpretations of this urban and emotional landscape, which structures the city. The ever-present cyan is the aesthetic element that allows me to express this longing for times gone by, linking it with the new Dakar. A union of opposites where we still can see beauty.