Signed, Ricardo Cases - Paloma al Aire - 2024

With Paloma al Aire, Ricardo Cases transforms his camera into a unique Spanish pigeon racing tradition known as columbicultura. It's a sport where the birds are painted in extravagant colors and given evocative names. The colors painted on the wings and bodies of the birds can indicate the regions their owners come from or reflect their own personal choices; the names are also personal—Oro del Ring, Aplausos, Éxtasis, Coloso, Nucleo—symbolizing the hopes and dreams of their owners and clients.This series examines play as a symbolic act, a projection, and a way of relating to the world. A group of men running through the fields after their male pigeons, observing their mating rituals, discussing the rules and referees... It is the ethnographic documentation of the rituals of remote tribes or of a group of children inventing a game as they discover the world.