“The photographs presented by Vicente Pla are highly accurate approaches to the intrinsic elements of photography and to its real possibility of narrating the world, as they offer the otherness of the places shown in clear harmony with the easily overlooked details of their surroundings, thus bringing them decisively closer to those who observe them carefully. The keys suggested by these scenes lie both in the presence of an instant, which stands as a turning point between two key moments, and in the appearance, in certain cases, of a staged construction or of a coordinated performance with some of the characters, which is entirely fortuitous and where, ultimately, their interest resides. Therefore, his photographs combine, with apparent simplicity, a significant complexity, such as the editing of the images and their internal relationship with one another. It is this relationship that allows the narrative of those individual experiences to be constructed, which, when shown together, confirm a connection among the parts themselves and between them and the whole.”

“...the images taken in Tokyo relate to other cities and other countries, such as Senegal or Ethiopia, through the detail of showing people and places, that is, by making mutual connection necessary and evident. Places are the people who inhabit them, in a formula of unknown proportions that adds to the physiognomy of their inhabitants, to the country’s geopolitics, and to its history...”

Extracts from the text: Vicente Pla. Places and People. Álvaro de los Ángeles (Full text)