“Tetuán: I’m making you greener.” It sounds like a confession of some verbal sin, but it’s actually the title of an awareness project about the importance of green spaces in cities, carried out in the Madrid neighborhood of Tetuán between March and September 2019, in which photography was used to generate a critical and constructive view of the scarce nature in that area, characterized by its tight urban layout and the “hardness” of its streets.
Promoted by Madrid City Council—through Ciudad Distrito—the program consisted of a diverse group of neighborhood residents coming together to walk the area taking photos of green spaces, including tiny plots like balconies or even shy weeds on sidewalks. The idea was to make a green “map” and capture it in two dimensions, to draw conclusions, propose changes, and become aware of how green areas “improve people’s quality of life, can be community gathering spaces and generate small green lungs.”
The designers behind this community creation are Paula Nieto and Marta Burgo, an engineer and a science communicator who joined their experience to create TE ESTOY PONIENDO VERDE, a tailor-made gardening services company with an active eye toward social intervention. For the Tetuán project they also partnered with photographer Carla Bonnet, who was in charge of giving basic photography instruction to the participants before going out with them to photograph the streets alongside different gardening and green-space specialists.
Between routes, a stop to listen to Pedro Armestre—a nature-photography eminence with a long track record as a graphic denouncer of climate change and the messes we make of the planet—who gave a talk open to the whole neighborhood. Once the photos were taken, the group did a “release” of green messages throughout Tetuán, neighbor-to-neighbor invitations to green up the streets from an everyday, personal level. And finally, the last stop: an exhibition at the Tetuán District Office headquarters, where anyone interested could see a selection of photos taken by participants and the chronicle Carla Bonnet made of the green, collective route.
The result couldn’t be more surprising: against all odds, there is a green Tetuán. The photos are like a set of windows into very specific places that, seen all together, turn out lush and fresh; like a telescope narrowing the view to show us that vegetation finds its way anywhere and, therefore, can grow if allowed to. Those windows reflect a present and propose a future: ladies and gentlemen, put geraniums on your windows, take care of that little tree on your street, wander more often through squares and parks, however small or scarce they are. With proper care, plants improve—and make us improve.
“Tetuán: I’m making you greener” seems to me a demonstration of the power of the gaze. In this case, the electronic gaze, which we hope changes the real gaze and this acts as a lever to activate the mechanism of changing the street. Also a demonstration of the power of photography that is actually made, since the kind that’s merely seen has lost steam (war photos, for example, no longer hurt, they feel like a video game, or we’ve seen too many).
A new case, in short, of the good tandem creativity and social change make. By the way, the organizers say that among the participants, bonds have formed that are giving rise to spontaneous initiatives. The sample is small, but the effort is great. And very significant, very inspiring. I’m going to go water the plants on my balcony.
Pablo Dávila Castañeda
September 2019
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Photos by Carla Bonnet
Ciudad Distrito. Tetuán: te estoy poniendo verde