The W (20^th July):

It was hard to be anywhere along the harbourside in Barcelona and not notice the incredibly dominant presence of the ‘W’ hotel. I actually found the extent of its impact made me increasingly uncomfortable. In the light of all that is happening economically in Spain at the moment its position almost seemed grotesque. Barcelona is heavily dependent on its tourism yet as with other tourist destinations this is seen as a very mixed blessing by residents. The pollution and noise caused by the constant tour buses, the increased property speculation driving out locals in Barcelonetta and so on. Around the city a number of banners are hung encouraging tourists to go home and not return. One protest group talks about tourism and economic models that are destroying the city. So while this was another technical exercise in terms of experimenting with focal lengths and my zoom lens it also feels like a political commentary for me. I guess this probably does not come across in the image if you don’t know the backstory, but this hideous structure really looms over the city and symbolises for me the very real dilemmas created by the collapsing economic systems.

This prompted me to look more at how tourism might be defined and what it means, this is an interesting post by José Antonio Donaire looking at the subject. Another project for the future maybe?

Sorry I digress, but this really got me curious about the symbolism and iconography around tourism and our cities.