Travel as a turning point is a recurring topos in both literature and the arts: it establishes a before and after, it takes on a mystical aura where what travels is not only the body, but the spirit. The Romantics in the 18th century had already set their sights on the East, conceived as an exotic region, where transcendence was made manifest in the small details – the spicy smells, the unintelligible languages, the saturated atmospheres. However, and despite the imminent cultural homogenization predicted by both the promoters and detractors of the global village, this fascination with otherness has not yet been lost. Aldo Chaparro's pictorial work is a testimony to how much travel can, even today, be an opportunity for enlightenment.
