The Ridge

The Ridge, a strip of jungle that runs north-south through New Delhi, is so named because it is situated in the foothills of an ancient mountain, the Aravalli Range. In the 19th century, The Ridge was still a bare mountain inhabited by wolves and leopards. Aimed at creating a colonial garden, it was reforested by the British according to the principles of English Romanticism, introducing a tree from Central America called Prosopis Juliflora, an invasive plant that became the endemic landscape of Delhi. Occupied by monkeys, the colonial garden was slowly transformed into a jungle. Today it is the dark and dense heart of the Indian capital, but also a kind of no-man's land, timeless, without clear references. A place that could be just a vision.For 14 years Pablo López has been documenting this territory, using the forms of the best 19th century landscape documentary but subtly injecting it with narrative, formal and thematic codes that are fully contemporary. In doing so, López has succeeded in capturing its mystery, making the photographic document more of an enigma than a statement, thus opening the door to suggestion. The Ridge thus draws on a certain neoclassical documentary, delicate, measured and elegant, but it’s also as timeless as disturbing and unsettling.