The main square is packed to the rafters. Grallas and timpani announce the start of the festivities. And the anticipation is palpable: a new giant, a dwarf, or a fire-breathing dragon will dance for the first time before the townspeople. Among the eyes watching the scene, some are especially excited. They already know which figure will appear: they know its size, its relief, its colors, and the fabric of its costume. Eyes that could belong to Ramon Aumedes, Sessa Casserras, or Pau Reig, three of the twenty or so creators of festive imagery in Catalonia. ARA has visited their workshops to discover who they are and how the creators of the more than 5,000 giants, 20,000 big-headed figures, and 10,000 bestiary figures found throughout the country work. A job that straddles the line between craft and art.

In the main square of Bellavista rests I will walk around like a fool, a sixteen-meter sphere created with old, chained vines, is the work of Catalan sculptor Cristina Gavilán, whose workshop is right across the street. "It's an expression the Italians use. In Catalan, it would mean "wandering," to wander aimlessly," she explains. "My idea was for the sculpture to travel through the territory to which it belongs, for the wind to carry it between vineyards, for the birds to come closer," but setting it free, in these times, is certainly a risk. The sculpture is a result of the final project she presented at the Escola Massana in Barcelona. "Pushing the sphere symbolizes the effort of the farmer, and its rounded shape speaks to the cycles of the vine and of life. Subtly, also to the death of my father," she reveals, always linking territory and identity.