SIYU AWARD
SIYU AWARD

Yohan Nieto
Down the Garden Path

Down the Garden Path is an ongoing photographic series that explores Spain’s historical memory of Francoism through the vernacular narratives of political repression in the specific region of Galicia, Spain. Galicia, the birthplace of Franco, was one of the first territories to fall into the hands of the Nationalists at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. It subsequently became a testing ground for the regime’s methods of repression. After the end of the dictatorship, a political omertà was imposed on the country. Yet, a spirit of civil resistance leads a determined struggle to exhume the regime’s crimes. The title comes from an English expression describing a situation where someone is deliberately deceived or misled. The gardens evoke the lush nature of this part of Spain. Down the Garden Path also refers to the idea of walking along a path, which can be translated as “dar un paseo” in Spanish —a tragically infamous expression used to describe the murders perpetrated by the regime. The project consists of four intertwined elements: a documentary approach to Franco’s legacy in Galicia; an exploration of the vernacular narratives of repression in Galicia, staged in collaboration with local actors; archival images of the “Falange”, the francoist armed wing, revisiting the past through documented facts that resonate with the fictional work; and finally, text, which plays a central role in the project as a narrative tool.

Yohan Nieto is a visual artist whose work explores contemporary social, political and cultural issues in the West, within the context of the acceleration and exponential alienation of late capitalism, its shift toward fascism and the resulting civil resistance. He is currently completing his studies as an ES Graduate in Visual Communication Design, specialised in Photography at CEPV in Vevey. Inspired by the new documentary approaches theorised by Laia Abril and Max Pinckers from 2017 onwards, further elaborated in the 2019 publication “When Fact is Fiction: Documentary Art in the Post-Truth Era”, his work centres on theatricality, performativity and collaboration within the framework of documentary practice. His artistic practice, which encompasses photography, text and archives, engages with themes of history, politics, past and present, and facts and fiction. After his first publication “Adios Sahara” in 2023, Yohan Nieto ongoing series, “Down the Garden Path”, explores the historical memory of Francoism in Galicia through vernacular narratives of repression and the documentation of its contemporary influence on the territory and its population.

Yohan Nieto
Down the Garden Path

Down the Garden Path is an ongoing photographic series that explores Spain’s historical memory of Francoism through the vernacular narratives of political repression in the specific region of Galicia, Spain. Galicia, the birthplace of Franco, was one of the first territories to fall into the hands of the Nationalists at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. It subsequently became a testing ground for the regime’s methods of repression. After the end of the dictatorship, a political omertà was imposed on the country. Yet, a spirit of civil resistance leads a determined struggle to exhume the regime’s crimes. The title comes from an English expression describing a situation where someone is deliberately deceived or misled. The gardens evoke the lush nature of this part of Spain. Down the Garden Path also refers to the idea of walking along a path, which can be translated as “dar un paseo” in Spanish —a tragically infamous expression used to describe the murders perpetrated by the regime. The project consists of four intertwined elements: a documentary approach to Franco’s legacy in Galicia; an exploration of the vernacular narratives of repression in Galicia, staged in collaboration with local actors; archival images of the “Falange”, the francoist armed wing, revisiting the past through documented facts that resonate with the fictional work; and finally, text, which plays a central role in the project as a narrative tool.

Yohan Nieto is a visual artist whose work explores contemporary social, political and cultural issues in the West, within the context of the acceleration and exponential alienation of late capitalism, its shift toward fascism and the resulting civil resistance. He is currently completing his studies as an ES Graduate in Visual Communication Design, specialised in Photography at CEPV in Vevey. Inspired by the new documentary approaches theorised by Laia Abril and Max Pinckers from 2017 onwards, further elaborated in the 2019 publication “When Fact is Fiction: Documentary Art in the Post-Truth Era”, his work centres on theatricality, performativity and collaboration within the framework of documentary practice. His artistic practice, which encompasses photography, text and archives, engages with themes of history, politics, past and present, and facts and fiction. After his first publication “Adios Sahara” in 2023, Yohan Nieto ongoing series, “Down the Garden Path”, explores the historical memory of Francoism in Galicia through vernacular narratives of repression and the documentation of its contemporary influence on the territory and its population.