This morning, 14 July, saw the presentation of
Deus ex petra, a photographic book inspired by Talayotic Menorca at the Consell Insular de Menorca. The event was attended by the author, Menorcan photographer Carlos Permuy; and the vice-president and conseller for Cultural Affairs of the CIM, Miquel Àngel Maria.
In
Deus ex petra, “A God who descends from the stone”, Permuy aims to capture the spiritual footprint of our prehistoric ancestors through 102 black-and-white photographs of Talayotic monuments, accompanied by poems by Pons Ponç, Llucia Palliser, Pere Gomila and Damià Rotger. The foreword is courtesy of archaeologist Antoni Ferrer. The Department of Cultural Affairs has purchased
50 copies of the book, to be distributed around Menorca's various public libraries.
The photographer spent two years visiting the island's different archaeological sites to complete the project. The book is divided into two main sections of two chapters each: one concerning the world of the living, and the other, the world of the dead. Each chapter begins with real symbology found throughout Menorca, and four haikus by the four Menorcan poets.
Talayotics and art
In the words of the author,
Deus ex petra aims to conceptualise the pursuit of light out of darkness, in the sense of the spiritual illumination which took place in the Neolithic, according to a
new hypothesis as to Menorca's taula enclosures, suggesting they could be a gateway for communication with gods or ancestors. In his foreword, one of the authors of this theory, Antoni Ferrer, asks: "How did the Talayotic people express the spiritual dimension of the stone to one another? What metaphors did they use? We will probably never know, but this is an aspect we cannot overlook. In this regard, approaches to prehistory from the viewpoint of art help us to remember that life in the Talayotic era was not confined to functional aspects".
Vice-president Miquel Àngel Maria was keen to stress the importance of broadening our perspectives of Talayotic Menorca. “This is not simply an archaeological heritage project, nor solely a project of the Consell Insular. It involves all of Menorca's society, and society is diverse. It is particularly helpful to bring in other perspectives on our heritage, with the artistic viewpoint and sensibility being especially important. Carlos Permuy's book is a wonderful example of the
opportunities that art offers to give us an insight into the archaeological heritage of Menorca and the landscape where our monuments stand, and to inspire our love," Mr Maria emphasised.
For his part, Mr Permuy underlined that "being from Menorca, I also see this book as a tribute to our land, with the hope that I can make some small contribution to the outstanding project that Talayotic Menorca represents".
About Carlos Permuy
Born in Maó in 1972, Permuy is director of the AGORA communication and digital marketing agency. A passionate photographer, he trained in this artistic discipline at Central Saint Martins in London and at the Barcelona School of Arts and Design.
In 2021 his photographic project The Romanian Files, about Romanian society, was chosen to celebrate the diplomatic relationship between Spain and Romania. A book of the same name was published this year, presented at the Spanish consulate in the Eastern European country.
Further information is available on his
website.
Here you can watch the presentation.