There is a highway in the southeastern state of Missouri where some nights travelers are surprised by an enigmatic sphere of light.
It is named after Paseo del Diablo and is located in the Ozark Mountains.
They say the devil himself lives there.
Hence, the locals assure that it is as present in their lives as an angel, Jesus Christ or God would be.
PHOTO GALLERY: A walk through the devil's land
Very close to those mountains, Antone Dolezal and Lara Shipley were born. Remote and rugged, the region is one of the poorest and most isolated in the United States. In recent times, the high rate of drug addiction has been another setback to his battered reputation. However, the photographers grew up happy, inspired by the fables of the region. Stories with which the locals, inheritors of a strong folkloric tradition, loaded with knowledge and superstition, entertain their relatives. They would leave a deep mark on them, as did the gratifying experiences in contact with the natural world. Thus, when Dolezal and Shipley met in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the desire arose to return to the land of origin and reconnect with their past. The result has been the photo book
Devil's Promenade
(Overlapse), a joint effort during which they delved into the idiosyncrasy of the place over ten years.
ANTONE DOLEZAL AND LARA SHIPLEY / OVERLAPSE
The fight between good and evil is at the heart of this narrative that begins with the fragile and tender figure of a child on the bank of a river. It marks the beginning of an uncertain journey, where the present meets the past. Through an agile sequencing of images, composed of enigmatic landscapes and revealing portraits, the reader is enveloped in an atmosphere full of intrigue and tension. Anything is possible on the road. Thus, the sections of darkness are interspersed with others where serenity reigns and clarity abounds. The experience is as terrifying as it is beautiful. The Paseo del Diablo becomes a metaphor for the destiny of the inhabitants of the area; from the experience of growing up in a place where there are not many ways out. Where life sometimes approaches paradise and other times to hell.
The authors mix archive images - found in local markets and in different libraries - with others taken by themselves. Similarly, black and white is combined with color, and documentary photography is mixed with a more interpretive one. Some photographs are recreations of the stories that were collected. In others, they unleash their imagination. “We set up a project in which we could dispense with the stereotypes of the place,” says Shipley. “That it would reflect what one feels when returning to a place that one feels part of. Not from the perspective of the outsider ”. And they succeeded. In the gaze of the artists, the personal character of a story structured in several layers is recognized. It flows between intimate and enigmatic family scenes, made up of young and old;different worlds and experiences that intermingle and refer to how the myths and superstitions that are transmitted from generation to generation give meaning to the community.
ANTONE DOLEZAL AND LARA SHIPLEY / OVERLAPSE
"Where the light comes from, or the reason for its existence, remains a mystery," warns one of the texts that is interspersed with the images. Mysticism also finds its place in narration, in the portrait of a group of people who resort to healing through prayer. "During those days my father fell ill with cancer," says Dolezal. I often thought that it is the scarcity of health resources that leads people to seek alternatives that go beyond traditional medicine. Religion becomes the consolation offered by what society cannot satisfy ”. Similarly, in the story the presence of the natural world takes on the same importance as that of humans and acquires the magnitude of a spiritual experience."Our objective was not at any time to try to document or explain the phenomenon of the spheres of light, but to suggest that this light is part of what makes this region unique," says Dolezal.
One warm summer night, Dolezal and Shipley ran into a group of teenagers on the Paseo del Diablo.
They were looking forward to some kind of event.
Suddenly, the space was illuminated by the spheres.
“Sometimes they looked white, sometimes red, green or blue.
The only sound was the buzzing of insects, pulsing with the dancing spheres.
After a while, maybe ten minutes, the teens got bored and left.
They were looking for something creepy, but it wasn't.
It was beautiful, ”Shipley recalls.
The photographers remained in the place enjoying the spectacle of a phenomenon that until now has no explanation.
They would return to the place several times.
They never saw the strange light again.
Nor did they run into the devil.
Devil's promenade
Antone Dolezal and Laura Shipley.
Overlapse, 2021.
152 pages.
40.23 euros.
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