Ariadna Silva

Cartografía de esquecemento offers a journey through three realities of the Galician landscape: native woodlands, plantations of Eucalyptus and Pine, and fire-scoured mountains. The subject raises reflection on the progressive territorial degeneration brought about  by different political, social, and economic factors and their devastating consequences both for biodiversity and for the collective memory and the identity of a great part of Galicia.

The paper intends to dig deep into the concept of a large scale map as a means of escape and and entry to the landscape in a cyclical fashion so that in its entirety the cause and consequence is revealed as accomplice and victim..  Native woodlands, heavily populated with Common Oak (Quercus Robur), in addition to forming a natural firebreak also offer a symbolic characterization of the Galician character. These are ancient woodlands dating back centuries and have enormous inter-generational and heritage value. On the other hand, monoculture plantations, very prone to fires and vanishing rural life and tradition, bring about the loss of memories once firmly rooted in these areas.  The original land becomes progressively substituted, traditional husbandry dies out, and the heirs of these lands are ignorant of their place in the scheme of things because they no longer reside in the countryside.

To sum up, Cartografía de Esquecemento is an attempt to synthesize the values of ecology, identity, collective memory and culture that is symbolized by the noble Common Oak as a paradigm of the native forest in opposition to human interference in the landscape.