Almost There is one of Aleix Plademunt's most ambitious and conceptually rich photobooks, a work that transforms photography into a meditation on distance, memory, time and the human desire to understand the world. Rather than documenting a specific place or event, Plademunt constructs an open visual journey where every photograph becomes part of a larger constellation of meanings, inviting readers to navigate freely between the intimate and the infinite.
The project was inspired by the unexpected arrival of a postcard delivered more than a century after it had been sent, an event that sparked a reflection on the strange relationship between geography, history and perception. From this starting point, Almost There expands into an exploration that moves effortlessly between microscopic details, family archives, archaeological remains, expansive Canadian landscapes, astronomical imagery and ordinary everyday scenes. These apparently disconnected subjects gradually reveal hidden correspondences, encouraging the viewer to reconsider the invisible threads that connect all forms of existence.
Plademunt rejects the conventions of linear storytelling in favour of an associative visual language. The sequencing constantly shifts scale, perspective and context, creating moments of surprise while maintaining a remarkable internal coherence. Landscapes are juxtaposed with interiors, natural phenomena with human traces, scientific observation with personal memory. The result is neither documentary nor fiction, but a photographic essay that questions the very act of looking and the limits of photographic knowledge.
Visually, the book is characterised by an extraordinary sense of restraint. Every image is carefully composed, allowing silence, ambiguity and contemplation to occupy as much space as the subjects themselves. The photographs never seek spectacle; instead they reward prolonged observation, revealing subtle relationships that become increasingly meaningful as the sequence unfolds. This measured rhythm transforms the act of turning each page into an intellectual and emotional experience.
The physical design of Almost There plays a crucial role in the reading experience. Thoughtfully edited and elegantly produced, the publication reinforces the conceptual structure of the project, allowing images to converse across spreads while maintaining an atmosphere of openness and discovery. The book itself becomes an object that mirrors its central theme: the perpetual search for understanding without ever reaching a definitive conclusion.
More than a travel narrative or a landscape study, Almost There is an inquiry into humanity's place within vast systems of space and time. It reflects on the impossibility of fully grasping reality while celebrating photography's unique ability to suggest connections that words cannot articulate. More than a decade after its publication, it remains one of the defining contemporary Spanish Photobooks, admired for its philosophical depth, visual intelligence and lasting emotional resonance. It stands as an essential Photography Book for anyone interested in Independent Photobooks that challenge conventional narratives and expand the expressive possibilities of the medium.
