Seahorses die of love.

This is a project of memory about Ruben Ropero Llabrés who died at sea in 2019 at the age of 28. Without knowing it, I was documenting the last year of his life.  He was born in Menorca, a Mediterranean island of great historical, strategic location and natural importance, and yet with amazingly unexplored nooks to this day.

He was a man of the sea, passionate about nature, archeology and the old civilizations that were formerly in Menorca. His love for the island was deep - the same island that captivated my attention since the first time I visited it. Then we fell in love and I became part of the discovery of ‘la isla de la calma’. This is a love story between people and places.

This project aims to bring to light the treasures he found at sea, the archeological sites, the island’s natural secrets and passages. It shows an adventurous life and the impermanence of it, the thin line that separates life from death, and his personal take on History. When we think with pictures, our relationship with nature, identity, beauty and life experience are intertwined. I met Ruben in a sailboat at sea; one year and 5 months later I was in the same place, throwing his ashes back to the sea with his family. 

This project has born more from the need than from the desire. Since Rubén’s death, I have had a number of encounters and connections with elements that link me to our story; One of them are seahorses, an appearance that has inevitably been repetitive and that all the time appeals to Rubén, and our desire to live and documenting all.

- Ongoing photobook project -