espuma
“Antes que el sueño (o el terror) tejiera
mitologías y cosmogonías,
antes que el tiempo se acuñara en días,
el mar, el siempre mar, ya estaba y era.
¿Quién es el mar? ¿Quién es aquel violento
y antiguo ser que roe los pilares
de la tierra y es uno y muchos mares
y abismo y resplandor y azar y viento?
Quien lo mira lo ve por vez primera,
siempre. Con el asombro que las cosas
elementales dejan, las hermosas
tardes, la luna, el fuego de una hoguera.
¿Quién es el mar, quién soy? Lo sabré el día
ulterior que sucede a la agonía.”
“Before dream (or terror) weaves
mythologies and cosmogonies,
before the time was coined in days,
the sea, the always sea, was already and was.
Who is the sea? Who is that violent
and ancient being that gnaws the pillars
of the earth and it is one and many seas
and abyss and brightness and chance and wind?
Whoever looks at it sees it for the first time,
forever. With the astonishment that things
elementary leave, the beautiful
Evenings, the moon, the fire of a bonfire.
Who is the sea, who am I? I’ll know the day
that follows the agony.”
“Part of the far shore disappeared into a shimmer that looked like water. There was no certainty in seeing, no proof that what you saw was there or was not there. ”
film · alfonso cuarón’s stunning semi-autobiographical film roma is a drop in a bucket that expands and agitates into a foaming sea of release. this meticulous recreation of cuarón’s memories encompasses both quiet sorrow and roaring hope.
music · mar y espuma by acapulco tropical from our film’s historically accurate soundtrack is about love, anguish, longing, and belonging—like foam to the sea.
words i · jorge louis borges personifies the power and vitality of the relentless sea in his poem el mar.
drawings · these images by american-latvian artist vija celmins encapsulate the stillness and movement of waves—and of reality.
words ii · john steinbeck’s novella the pearl was originally accompanied with illustrations by mexican artist jose clemente orozco—one of cuarón’s favorite muralists.
photographs · gabriel orozco, one of cuarón’s favorite contemporary artists, plays with perception, reflection, and form in these 1990s photographs.