Alvaro Laiz

During the last Ice Age, pushed by ice sheets and with temperatures of around minus 60 C, a small group of Siberian hunters migrated towards the North. A frozen territory that for 10,000 years served as a bridge between Asia and America.This is where the story begins, in the horizon between the known and the unknown; the place where the boundaries of ice, earth and ocean is blurred, an ever-changing place that the Bering Strait inhabitants call Kromka. The Edge.

With the aim to better understand one of the most incredible and unknown feats of Humanity -the first population of the American continent- I started to develop a dialogue between science and art; evolutionary biology and imagery. The artistic research that resulted from this dialogue draws a map throughout hundreds of generations in the search of forms of alternative perception; and that which is common each and all of us: our collective memory.

The history of humankind can be interpreted from the perspective of a continuous migration. Throughout this symbolic horizon, time and time again we travel the path of our ancestors. And also, that of our descendants.

In 2016 I set out on a journey across the American continent. From its northern border (Bering Strait, Russia) to its southernmost limit (Tierra de Fuego, Argentina). In this project traditional cosmogonies dialogue with scientific knowledge through the analysis of genetic data, in a quest for alternative ways to rethink our relationship with both the territory and ourselves.

The Edge is an ongoing project developed with the support of National Geographic Society, Museo de la Universidad de Navarra (MUNAV), Burroughs Wellcome Fund and Rita Allen Foundation.