This project was born from an encounter with a territory [between walks and field experiences during an art residence in Gran Canaria]. The Canary Islands are an archipelago formed by seven volcanic islands in the Atlantic, west of Morocco. Politically it belongs to Spain, geographically to Africa. The title ‘In the Time of the Flying Fishes’ was inspired by a research on the original peoples of that region, the 'Guanches'. They inhabited the islands before the Spanish colonisation in the XV century. Mysteriously, it is unknown how they arrived on the island because despite living there they never developed naval knowledge.

 

The action performed for the video was filmed in an environmentally protected area with an old rusty fishing frame found on site – a fossil territory. Following this perspective, Rubiane established body movements on the ground, regarding the surface of the earth as a skin that holds many secrets. What we can see is just a small body rolling the object and trying to suspend it to relate to the weight of memories that was buried there with layers of time. The video is a kind of diagram in space, a projection of shadows and imaginary lines that unsuccessfully aim to find the traces of a people eradicated by colonisation.