Three seconds of Atlas

“There are spirits in this rugged land. Go on, take a look at the landscape and tell me otherwise: the hills a series of lifts and drops, dotted with trees, the odd sign of improbable life clinging on. On overcast days, watch the mists roll in across the valley, as if the clouds have come down to watch giants lift the heavens. The forces of stillness and power co-exist here like the sun and the moon” – Iñaki Perurena.

Harri Jasotzea, or Levantamiento de Piedra was done to shift boulders off the fields so the Basque people could farm the land. Some of them got so good at it that they started challenging each other, laying bets down, demonstrating to one another who could lift the heaviest stones. Over the years, it became a proper sport: with a federation, regulations, anti-doping controls. As technology moved farming into the realm of machines, competing became a reminder of the Basque willingness to survive and conserve their own shared past.

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The images and text were published in Athleta Magazine.