Commisions

[Re]getting to know the bush

Peñamayor, Asturias

Location: Peñamayor, Asturias
Period: 2025 - present

Caring for Peñamayor from the memory of abandonment and its community uses.

The Peñamayor mountain range is currently under threat from mining speculation. It is one of the most important enclaves of the central-eastern mountains of Asturias, with good mountains and a bayou fauna of great ecological value. Rich in springs, woods and passes, its memory is deeply traversed by the xeohistory of the three-humance. Its plot is plural, open and dense, as much as its symbolism: a three-generational icon of escapees, of the guerrilla fights, and a place of celebration, a place for the resurgence of new resistances. But all this is now at risk, due to a process that is unfolding in opacity and on the fringes of democratic control.

In the face of this alarming situation, La Benéfica de Piloña Espaciu Cultural, in alliance with the platform Salvemos Peñamayor (Let's Save Peñamayor), is considering how recognising the mountain can be a form of struggle. Convinced that inhabiting is one of the most powerful ways for the weak to confront speculation and exploitation, this project returns to the knowledge of the mountain as territories of resistance, and to the mountain as a place of incarnated knowledge, which both prisons us and takes us out of our place. This opens up the possibility of how to build common fronts between living beings, based on the emotional memories of the mountain, and how, by strengthening the community uses that already exist, we will become more capable of caring for Peñamayor.

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Caring for Peñamayor from the memory of abandonment and its community uses.

The Peñamayor mountain range stands today against the threat of mining speculation. It is one of the most important enclaves of the central-eastern mountains of Asturias, with extensive forests and a native fauna of great ecological value. Rich in springs, "brañas" and places of passage, its memory is also deeply marked by the geohistory of transhumance. Its fabric is plural, open and dense, as much as its symbolism: a transgenerational icon of guerrilla struggles and a place of celebration, of the resurgence of new resistance. All of this is now at risk, due to a process that is taking place in opacity and outside democratic control.

Faced with this alarming situation, La Benéfica de Piloña Espaciu Cultural, in alliance with the platform Salvemos Peñamayor, proposes how recognising the forest can be a form of struggle. Convinced that inhabiting is one of the most powerful ways for the weak to resist speculation and extractivism, this project returns to the knowledge of the forest as territories of resistance, and to the forest as a place of embodied knowledge, which matters to us and takes us out of place. This opens up the question of how to weave common fronts of living beings, based on the emotional memories of the forest, and how, by strengthening the communal uses that already exist, we can become more capable of taking care of Peñamayor.