Orange season

"Orange season"
Location: Castelló, Spain
Date: December 2021
Photographer: Natàlia Server Benetó
Ohio State Affiliation: Graduate Student
Home Country: Spain
Category: Places
Award: Honorable Mention
2022 International Photography Exhibition

Description: "Oranges are a big part of Valencian culture, where I grew up. They are the typical fruit of that territory. In the fall and in the winter, at lunch or dinner, I would share oranges with my family and my friends. We would peel them for each other and we would chat about our days and the things that mattered to us. Ever since I have been living away from home, studying in the U.S., I have missed these intimate moments with my loved ones. I cannot find the same oranges here, and I cannot speak the tongue that I do with my relatives and friends. Last Christmas, as I walked around the countryside around my town, my friend and I came across a group of men who were picking oranges from the the trees. I decided to take a picture of this basket, called "cabàs", with my analog camera, to go back to this memory months later, to remember where I come from, and to remember that everything is a process - being picked up, put on the basket, transported, put on the table and becoming part of a ritual that I now miss."