In black-and-white stillness, Allan Salas’s The Rooted Heart Began to Change captures the transient nature of life, blending themes of grief, time, and nature into a poignant meditation on mortality.
Born in 1993 and based in San José, Costa Rica, Salas is a photographer whose work invites introspection. His images are steeped in poetry, exploring the fragility of the human condition and the deep connections between people and their surroundings. Through his lens, Salas examines the inevitable passage of time and the toll it takes on the body, the mind, and the world around us.
The project is rooted in deeply personal loss. In December 2020, Salas lost his paternal grandmother; just a month later, his father survived a heart attack. Seeking solace and space to process these life-changing events, he moved alone to his childhood home by the sea. It was here, in the quiet rhythm of this familiar yet altered place, that Salas began to confront the realities of grief and mortality.
“Being there, I noticed the passage of time manifested in everything around me,” Salas says. “It was a constant reminder of my own mortality.” He began to see traces of himself in the older men living on the edges of society—figures who turned to nature in their search for meaning and belonging.
The book takes its name from a line in Elizabeth Bishop’s poem The Weed:
"The rooted heart began to change
(not beat) and then it split apart
and from it broke a flood of water."
This imagery resonates throughout the project. Salas’s photographs—presented exclusively in black and white—are rich with contrasts, textures, and shadows, evoking a sense of timelessness. They explore the delicate balance between decay and renewal, illustrating the ebb and flow of life and its inescapable end.
At its core, The Rooted Heart Began to Change is a meditation on how we navigate existential uncertainties, how nature mirrors our own impermanence, and how time both wounds and heals. By juxtaposing the stillness of his surroundings with the inevitable march of time, Salas creates an intimate and contemplative journey that lingers.
This body of work was published by Witty Books in 2022.
