12 fictional Polaroids that are love letters on the periphery

Photographing the hypnotic beauty of the outskirts of anthropology

05/01/2026

12 images

BarcelonaPeriphery_ From Latin peripherīa, and this, from Greek peripheria. Extremities or margins of any entity. AnthropologyF. A discipline that studies human beings from a social and cultural perspective, the essence of humanity and their place in the world. BorderFThe boundary between two closely related things. The blurred line between belief and superstition. Bordering_adjAdjacent, territory that is touching the limits or borders of another territory. Satellite_ mThat depends on an external influence. Satellite city. Threshold_ m. Extreme value of a magnitude that, when exceeded, changes the characteristics of the established system. Outskirts_m. Periphery of a city. Metropolis_Main city of a region, of a state. Anarchism_ mA social theory that, based on the principle of individual freedom, advocates the abolition of all forms of political power. Libertarian_ Supporter of the ideology and attitudes proposed by anarchism. Emma Goldman_F. A key anarchist in the development of anarchist philosophy in the first half of the 20th century. Return_ m. The act of returning to the place from which one had departed.

1 de 12XAVIER BERTRAL

Where the city ends and poetry begins

A clandestine condition of wayward fairies living on the hinges of a land that always forms a curb—facing the sea, with our backs to the fields damaged by reproaches. Born among cotton wool covered in beehives, we have gutted understanding, but the blood that splashed us was not ours, and they have changed the locks on us, and our mother has collapsed while sirens wail in a time that is in transit—a border line. Hidden in the attic in contorted postures, we paint Indian stripes on the marks of the sheets in case we ever drink at the hands of a gypsy.

Bordering| Carla Fajardo| Vienna Editions

2 de 12XAVIER BERTRAL

Emerging from the margins

A proposal beyond the mainstream. They are an oasis of punk-rock and much more. Four exceptional musicians who add depth to the spirit and poetry of their vocalist. With a name –Periphery– It's a declaration of intent; they know where they come from and where they want to go, and they demonstrate this in their live performances, which take them from the Vallès region to places as far away as Los Olmos – a town of only one hundred inhabitants. There, they headlined, playing at a surprisingly libertarian marvel called OlmoRock.

3 de 12Xavier Bertral

Cristina Bergua

South of the Barcelona metropolitan area, the name of Cristina Bergua The story still resonates. He was 16 years old when he disappeared in Cornellà on March 9, 1997. His parents, Luísa and Joan, have kept the fight and his memory alive, turning their pain into a beacon for other families in a similar situation. In his room, untouched, the guitar he played that last Sunday still awaits. And in the outskirts, where memory often fades amidst the changing urban landscape, between apartment blocks and waves of migration, his story persists like a wound that refuses to heal.

5 de 12Xavier Bertral

Emma Goldman Collage

Emma Goldman breathedanarchism Like someone opening a window in a closed house, she remained true to a way of being in the world, with which she wanted to change the course of history. Her journey was philosophical, human, and radically social. She embraced feminism, made art and words a space for self-reflection, and moved through her time with a courage that still unsettles. Her life, intersecting with the major events of the century, is a map of encounters with the most vibrant minds of her era. She knew or influenced people of the stature ofEinstein, Piotr Kropotkin, Federica Montseny, Voltairine de Cleyre, George Bernard Shaw, Isadora Duncan, Buenaventura Durruti, Henrik Ibsen, The list is impressive. Her commitment to a fairer, more equal, and more dignified world led her to defend it even after imprisonment. Goldman reminds us that living on the margins creates a new kind of centrality. A woman, an immigrant, poor, and an anarchist, Emma Goldman is an essential figure of the periphery.

7 de 12XAVIER BERTRAL

No place in the world

Beneath an ordinary highway bridge lies a space that belongs to no one. It is neither city nor forest, nor even highway. It is neither road nor street, nor any place with a name. It is the void of any map. There lives a person. They inhabit the absolute periphery, surrounded by the noise of engines and the dirty heat of the asphalt. Their belongings are piled up next to the concrete pillars, while the world keeps passing by, more or less at 80 km/h.

9 de 12XAVIER BERTRAL

January 26, 1939

The Sants road—now a street—hides a past beneath its asphalt. Its cobblestones, once the site of trams, cycling races, and countless train journeys, now lie dormant. Along this road, arriving directly from the fascist frontier, a significant portion of Franco's troops advanced in January 1939. [...] Those cobblestones hold the memory of Bertral stores, pastry shops, and tailors that defined an era. All of this, sealed beneath layers of pavement.

10 de 12XAVIER BERTRAL

Riera Blanca

Barcelona It was the return point and the departure point. Now they call it BCN, more coolMore of a brand, but before, it was that shortened name that defined us. Even as children, we'd come home on Sundays with our faces dirty from fighting for the people's freedom. The car radio was playing... Sports Carousel...announcing that the weekend was over. And right there, on the invisible border betweenBarcelona and theHospi, The week was beginning.

11 de 12XAVIER BERTRAL

The sea, for example, in Cunit

The exact point where the sea ends and the land begins is a line that never stands still, a fragile border that only exists while we look at it. Ocean seaAlessandro Baricco plays with this idea and transforms it into an everyday space. Let's go in search of this utopian frontier! From the apartment—quite far from the coveted beachfront—the ritual is clear: carry the chair, the umbrella, the bags, the children. Walk, cross the footbridge over the railway line, walk some more. And finally, the land ends and the sea begins.