“It’s like they’ve ripped out part of my insides. I don’t think it matters what’s mine considering what happened to everyone else, but I can’t help it. nothing”, said Flor, looking photographs damaged by DANA which devastated the region. The torrential rains not only devastated houses and streets, but also left their mark in the most intimate memories of the inhabitants of Aldaia, who are now struggling to recover the images that tell the story of their lives.
Photos, more than just memories, are vestiges of your personal history. For Flor, as for many, these images go beyond the paper itself. “In this dining room where I am, my brother and my nephews meet and I put albums online.” Although some of these albums are now partially destroyedreliving these moments remains a fundamental element of one’s life.
Meanwhile, Salma continues to try to save her photographs, some badly damaged, but of incalculable sentimental value. “It’s my life, my excursions…” he comments. Among the photos he managed to save, there is one that fills him with happiness, the one he considers his favorite: “The one from my grandmother’s communion. It was under the cupboard and when I saw it I said, “I need this picture.” Even though the image is damaged, the emotion of having recovered it makes him feel like he has found treasure.
Next to them, many other photos, drying in the sun on a stall, await their fate. Salma and Flor are waiting to be able hand them over to specialists at the University of Valenciawhich, with other institutions such as GEICC, ICOM and LETNO, will be responsible for restoring them and returning them to their former splendor.
According to the director of heritage at the University of Valencia, “you have to touch them as little as possible, move them as little as possible and put them in bags. It is very important that the bags are well labeled.” These recommendations aim preserve the status of each photograph before being transferred to the spaces set up in each municipality, where experts will diagnose the degree of deterioration of each image.
Enric, for example, has photos of his wife who They have been drying since Saturday. The images, although bruised, are a testimony to her life and love, and specialists will work to restore them, ensuring that at least DANA does not also take these precious memories.
