This book is aptly called a/round.. suggesting that there will be action, after all boxing in all of its training is dedicated to be contested within the round or rounds may they be 6 10 or 12 depending on the class and the intent of the conflict... the rounds take place within the square, the boxers zig zag, coast, prod, jab feint, cross and undercut.. all punches appropriately placed so as to reach the goal of overwhelming or out pointing the other man or woman in the ring.. singular victory is the reason for all of this skill.. call this the victory of the will.., oddly tho the images within the book have nothing to do with the action.. there are no bruising moments, no fast handed illusions, there is no woopie at the end of the fight nor is there a loser bloodied on the mat confused, despir- itualized or dead.... nor is there any sight of the blood thirsty crowd.. the ring girls, the inherent smell of greed that so often parallels the purity of the fighter.
this work by Andrea santolaya is unique in the legacy of the sport. ..... it is about silence.. about resistance, and patience... what this photographer dosnt show has given birth to what it does show.. the remarkable soul of the women who have drilled and trained, who have left their home at dawn to jump rope and shadowbox.. who have gone to work and put in working class hours in order to finance a destiny. a destiny which calls for becoming strong and inherently armored but by being so, soft, as if the soul was only to be discovered by the flame and drill of steel. the steel will for mastery and muscle...this work is about physical ambition and the inner quiet that grows from its stealth.... if you allow yourself to enter each of these slices which contain the portraits , you will be held by their integrity and power. an unspoken reverie sets in.... you have experienced the ongoing result which glows from within....
Larry Fink
Text written for the book AROUND.
Andrea Santolaya La Oficina Ed. Madrid 2011