The look of photography. ″We wanted to show the taste for Portugal″
The love for Portugal and the desire to portray it through the gaze of photography was the main reason for holding the exhibition Portugal Global: The gaze of photography, says José Ribeiro e Castro. The criterion was clear: select only photographs that could portray the country. Whether in the interior, in the north or in the south, it doesn’t matter as long as it is shown through the eyes of the photographers and where “the taste for Portugal” is reflected. Despite opening its doors to the public now, at the Palácio da Independência, in Lisbon, the original idea emerged just 1 year ago – when the Historical Society of the Independence of Portugal (SHIP) turned 60, when it started to be present on social media. . And, therefore, a specific language was needed for digital. That’s when we decided to turn to photography. “Posting as images on social networks, photographs with many he likes and we ended up wanting to exhibit them here as well”, he explains.
As soon as you arrive at the Palácio da Independência (in Largo de São Bernardo), category in the first room on the left, you can see the names of the photographers exposed there, written on the wall, next to a photograph of Lisbon. In total, there are 28 authors who have works on site. Not all professionals, as is the case of Fernando Matos, a doctor by profession and photographer in his spare time, but “with a lot of experience and with great impact photographs”, considers Ribeiro e Castro. “The choice [dos fotógrafos] it was done by personal acquaintance and by invitation and so it has spread. We want these several to enrich this permanent exhibition, as you think, justify the president of SHIP.