Daryl Pallas

Daryl Lee Pallas is a documentary photographer from Gibraltar, working with medium and large format film. Currently studying a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Photography at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in Farnham. Pallas has exhibited his work at The Photographers Gallery, The Lightbox Gallery, The Gustavo Bacarisas Gallery and has had work featured in multiple online and physical publications. 

‘How Salty Is The Mediterranean?’ looks into themes of home, nostalgia, loss and memory. Growing up in Gibraltar and moving to the UK has given Pallas many opportunities to explore his hometown in ways which he has never done before. The main focus of Pallas’s latest work is the exploration and re-discovery of the places and spaces he grew up in. Pallas looks into different ideologies of growing up in an extremely small country, often people are told that their hopes and dreams will only be answered if they leave their country and migrate to a larger country or city. Pallas’ photographs look into these ideas and highlight particular areas of Gibraltar which expose the true beauties of his hometown, even through the most mundane spaces. 

The work is intended to be presented in a book format, the photographs flow through the book almost as if you’re weaving through the streets and coasts of Gibraltar but at the end, you’re presented with a poem. The poem is called ‘Marta’ and is written by a Gibraltarian poet named Gabriel Moreno, he writes about a girl who leaves the sea and moves to London, she quickly realises that this is not the life she wants to lead and begins to miss the sea, but feels too proud to return to her hometown. This poem very much resonated with Pallas and has a very strong partnership with the images within the book.