Being a 'forestero' - or 'outsider' - in Spain has its advantages. Cultural and visual points of reference are not, as yet, taken for granted. We still see the country through other eyes.  

In this first series of Images of Spain I am looking skywards, towards the heavens. Because when we look up into the sky, we realise we are part of something much greater than ourselves. We are part of something beyond our social media profiles, beyond our isolated existences, and far far beyond our daily preoccupations. We are part of that great big thing up there. And that in turn, is part of us. 

When we choose to look up, as these photographers have done, we are left in awe. And to feel awe in the presence of so much beauty is no bad thing.  

With her dark skin, brightly coloured clothes and wild, alluring nature, she came to symbolise a freedom that you either despised or desired. 

Her ability to love freely, to travel openly, to slip between communities as easily as she slipped between Basque and Romani placed her beyond the rigid confines of Christian society and marked her not only as an outsider, but as something exotic; something essentially Spanish.    

Based on the story by Prosper Mérimée, Georges Bizet's opera was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, on 3 March 1875, but left both audiences and critics unmoved despite its offering of sex, smuggling, cigarettes and murder.  

Almost 140 years later, the Gazpachomonk investigates why this French production has turned into an icon and a synonym of Southern Spain. Read more.... 

Everyone and their dog will be hard at work, evaluating the previous 12 months and plotting the year ahead, but before you start to jot down the list of resolutions and habits for the year ahead like the good digitally productive elf you are, take a moment out to see where it all may be leading before you embark on the journey of endless data collection. (read more....)