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Artist Alexander James Hamilton´s ´Renaciendo´ (reborn) series arises from a fascination with water as both medium and metaphor. Submerging his subjects in vast tanks of purified water, sculpting light in-camera by introducing brushwork on the water’s surface, creating unique analogue film plates that hover between corporeal presence and spectral absence. This process requires a monastic dedication, meticulous planning and a deeply personal engagement with subject and material, echoing the devotional practices of religious painting traditions exemplified by Francisco De Goya.

Every element in the project is made by the artists hand alone with no mechanisation, this includes the clothing worn by his models, the crucifixes, from hand processing the film plates to creating the prints, even the lighting used, framing and sculpture works; all created by the artists hand alone.

Professor Javier Poyatos Sebastián described  the artists project ´Renaciendo´ as “a hymn to a natural world that is disappearing, and, a denunciation of industrialisation and the pollution of the oceans, rivers and landscapes. Presenting these works in 2020 within historic sites, first in the ruined Carmelite convent of La Alcarria. A site that had been closed to the public for over 170 years, re-opened by the artist after years of dedicated work and community outreach. The Convento is now being fully ´Re-Born´ with a newly  revived life through a restoration program being effected from the artists original cultural stewardship bringing stakeholders, intellectuals and universities together at the table to bring about the regeneration of this important cultural site.

inside the project ´Renaciendo´ reopening the Carmelita Convent

Now ´Goya renacido en el agua´ is being hosted in the Castillo de la Piedra Bermeja, Brihuega, inviting an art historical conversation between past and present. Visitors to the exhibition approach the castle via its ancient cemetery that frames a ritual passage: visitors confront mortality before witnessing the exhibition that suggests transformation, rebirth and renewal. This site-specificity selected by the artist deepens the work’s resonance; honouring the architecture’s 1,000 year old memory while proposing a spiritual awakening towards the natural world in an era of environmental degradation.

These works stand as a testament to authenticity: as each analogue film plate stands alone, unedited and un-repeatable, affirming the value of a singular object of desire in an age of reproduction & duplication.