THE RAILING
Spinal column and hallmark of Gijón's urban furniture.
Joint project by photographers Carlos Conde and Monica Riveiro
The railing of the Muro de San Lorenzo, with its simple design, is one of the defining features of Gijón's urban furniture.
During the summer, it is the backbone of revelry, festivities, sunscreen scent, and a thirst for the sun.
But when the tsunami passes and everything returns to calm, it becomes the steam train that takes you, at its own pace, from San Pedro to La Lloca, passing by the Escalerona, the bench stops under the pergolas, El Piles Bridge, and Las Chaponas.
It is the therapy couch where you open up to the psychiatrist.
It is the yoga teacher who helps you find yourself.
It is the lookout that separates real life from the dreams you sense on the horizon.
It is the frame that encloses the beauty, the rain, the calm, and the fury of the sea.
It is the safety barrier for the automatons who move alongside it and cross paths with it every day. We are always the same wandering fools, belonging to the Peripatetic school. And though we don’t speak because we don’t know each other, we recognize each other as essential pieces of a perfect machine.
It is the non-toxic drug that makes you feel good and makes you aware of the luck you have in being where you are.
It is the grip that sometimes saves you from madness.
The place where dreams fly free.
