Territorio de abejas. Paisaje de hombres

(Bee's Territory. Human's Landscape)
by Daniel Orte Menchero
81', Mini DV, Spain, 2007

The landscape of the Spanish Pyrenees is a ruled book of the centuries-old labors of man, and of the history of his struggles. Yet now, the efforts of the mountain dwellers, and of the few shepherds who continue to take their sheep to the highest grazing grounds, are overwhelmed by the “need” for new ski trails, lifts, apartments for tourists, and for houses that after the vacation season will remain empty. The flight of a hang-glider surveys the bulldozers that destroy the pastures to make space for invasive developments, so different from the patterns of gracious tradition, and that threaten to become the new, inevitable choice for economic development for these same residents. Here we see the contradiction between mountain life and the quest for wealth – at stake is the priceless “magic of the Pyrenees”.

Daniel Orte Menchero
Born in Madrid in 1974, he began work as a photographer. His passion for the mountains led him to begin a new life in the Pyrenees. He now studies environmental science at the University of Madrid.