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Avelino Sala bases his project on research into the Prestige oil spill, which devastated the Spanish Cantabrian coast in 2002. His work seeks to establish a dialogue between this disaster and other similar events, with the aim of highlighting the importance of revisiting history to understand all its complexities and, in this way, prevent future catastrophes.

The work features archive material that the artist compiled over many years whilst investigating the legal battle surrounding that event, notably through an extensive interview with the prosecutor who handled the case, Álvaro García Ortiz. For more than 16 years, Ortiz (then a prosecutor specialising in environmental matters in Galicia and, subsequently, the Attorney General) fought against the shipping company, the insurer, the ship’s captain and the politicians involved, resulting in Spain’s first conviction for environmental offences. A historic milestone in environmental matters, in which nature, the sea and the natural environment were the victims.

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Artwork included in the exhibition La tempestad.