On the 27th of April, 2023, the photographer Toni Amengual will open the exhibition Perles de Mallorca at Casal Solleric in Palma. It is an exhibition that brings together the most recent production of Amengual, focusing on the portrait of the island of Mallorca, where he is originally from. In the author’s own words:
“Driving around the island, photographing the infrastructures that have been built for decades to accommodate a floating population that is 15 times larger than the permanent population. A population that from one day to the next seems to have stopped floating.
“Tourism requires that natural landscapes, ethnic groups or cities are organized, geographically and symbolically, according to the requirements of commercial exploitation (i.e. the “tourist park”). The scenarios are classified and divided into units suitable for integration into the commercial network of tour operators and travel agencies. The economic exploitation of nature and local cultures is achieved when these elements are transformed into objects of “contemplation” through an iconography saturated with meanings that can be sold in the tourist industry”. (E. Illouz. The consumption of the romantic utopia. 2009).
The pearl is the result of the irritation of the oyster” – Toni Amengual