A sunken lighthouse over the Llosa de Santa Eulària, a cormorant looking defiantly at the camera, a marlin camouflaged among the posidonia leaves, the curious structure of zooplankton turned almost into a musical note, the ghostly vision of the remains of the Mariana fish farm as a submerged spaceship, the perfect coexistence between a shrimp and a moray eel in its hole, a jellyfish trapping a small fish with its tentacles… These are some of the scenes, almost stories, that tell the pictures of l’Illa Blava’, the exhibition that can be seen throughout the summer, until September 30, at the Port de Sant Miquel promenade. In total, 28 photos mounted on outdoor metal structures belonging to the five photographers of the Association Es Blau: Joan Costa, Xavier Mas, Joan Pereyra, Vicent Planells and Simon Vila.
A freediver dives next to a cave at Punta d’en Rovira. | XAVIER MAS / f. de lama/M. torres
“After the success of the exhibition ‘Sant Miquel, un Port de Vida’, which we did in 2022 in the same location, with a great reception from both tourists and residents, we thought of mounting a new work in the same space. This year we want to highlight the island of Ibiza as a perfect and little known place for diving,” explains Joan Costa, who is the curator of the exhibition.
A moon snail on a posidonia leaf. | JOAN PEREYRA / f. de lama/M. torres
The previous exhibition showed the underwater environment of Port de Sant Miquel and in this one they wanted to go a little further and show “the variety of habitats and organisms found throughout the island”, highlights the dossier of the exhibition.
A school of barracudas swimming in a circle. | VICENT PLANELLS / f. de lama/M. torres
“We hope that this work will serve to to raise awareness of our seabed, a world that is as wonderful as it is unknown. And also to make society aware of the need to protect it for future generations,” the text states.
A dispute between a couple of kinglets. | SIMÓN VILA / f. de lama/M. torres
The exhibition is organized in 15 structures, each of them displaying one image per side: 28 in total plus a cover and an explanatory panel. Each image, 150×150 centimeters and printed in high resolution, is accompanied by a brief explanatory text in three languages: Catalan, Spanish and English.
Es Blau, Associació d’Amics del Nostre Mar, is a non-profit association whose aim is to promote the awareness of society of the value and importance of the seabed of the Balearic Islands through photography. It is integrated by a group of photographers specialized in underwater photography and with wide experience and knowledge of the marine environment of the Pitiusas. “The association expresses its firm conviction of the effectiveness of the use of the image as a tool to stir consciences and change social attitudes”, they explain.