Nicolas Rivals Lights Up the Night with La Linea Roja

A beacon in the cool, dark night. Warm and bright, filled with drama, these lights transform the space around. French photographer Nicolas Rivals installed these red lights in wild, natural spaces whilst on a trip across Spain. They look technological and unnatural against the rugged landscape, yet somehow, as well as contrast, there seems to be a form of conversation taking place between the two.

These red lines, or ‘lineas rojas’, seem to belong, to be concordant with the vast landscapes they sit in. They provide a graphic element to the terrain, clearly demonstrating Rivals’ desire to explore the relationship between Man and Earth. Long exposures in camera allow the stars to register in their scattered glory, and the colours of the night sky to emerge from the darkness. Graceful and stately, these images have a quiet poetry as well as a striking visual impact. Simple geometries at odds with the complex fractals of a tree, the amorphous texture of rock formations. They wouldn’t look out of place on the album covers of some dark, funky electronica, and, to some, might even resemble alien structures, or presences, hovering in the natural world.