Issue #33/ Trip / Ricardo Cases

Paloma al Aire

With Paloma al Aire, Ricardo Cases turns his camera to a tradition of pigeon sports known as columbiculture and unique to Spain. It is a race for which the birds are flamboyantly painted and evocatively named. The colours painted on the birds' wings and bodies may indicate the regions their owners come from or their own personal choices; the names of the birds, too, are personal-Oro del Ring, Aplausos, Extasis, Coloso, Nucleo… They symbolize the hopes and dreams of their owners and the punters.