Yohan Nieto

Image from “Down the garden path” project by Yohan Nieto

Biography

Website: www.yohannieto.ch

Instagram: @yohannieto.ch

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 and its shift toward fascism. He is currently completing his Bachelor in Photography at CEPV in Vevey. Inspired by the new approach called Speculative Documentary theorised by Laia Abril and Max Pinckers from 2017 onwards, 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.

The project

“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 in 1936, at the start of the Spanish Civil War. It subsequently became a testing ground for the Franco regime’s methods of repression, which were later generalized across Spain under increasingly brutal practices. Since the end of the dictatorship, a political omertà was imposed in the country, silencing testimonies. However, a spirit of civil resistance persists, with determined efforts to recognize victims and exhume the regime’s crimes.

“Down the garden path” emerged from my unease with the current political climate, particularly the rise of fascism in the West. The title comes from an English expression describing a situation in which someone is deliberately misled or confused, often subtly and gradually. The gardens also evoke the lush natural environment of this part of Spain, which plays an important role in my images. Recent research suggests that the presence of human bodies underground may stimulate plant growth on the surface. In this context, Galician nature can be seen symbolically as a visible witness to the regime’s hidden crimes. The title also references the Spanish expression “dar un paseo”, literally “to take a walk,” a euphemism used to describe the murders carried out by the regime’s armed wing, the Falange.

Image from “Down the garden path” project by Yohan Nieto

Image from “Down the garden path” project by Yohan Nieto

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 collaboration with local actors whose family histories are marked by the dictatorship; archival documents from the Galician Falange, revisiting the past through documented facts that resonate with the fictional work; and finally, text, which plays a central narrative role. The project’s structure is strongly inspired by the Speculative Documentary manifesto theorized by photographer Max Pinckers.