Applause, Rio de Janeiro 2012
Rio, Singapore, Paris, Seoul and Rome. The images that make up this photographic project were taken in 5 different cities and countries, in 3 continents, in a span of 14 years, from 2010 to 2024. It’s a register of the main cities I’ve lived in my adult life.
Each photograph is a testament to the place I called home during that time, a record of my personal impressions of these places, as an outsider. The portfolio focus lies at the human component within the urban environment, as well as the historical moment and the role of art in compounding the metropolitan landscape.
In Rio de Janeiro nature and concrete co-exist in a way unlike anywhere else. Amidst the concrete jungle stand the forest and its mountains. This dualism is also present at people’s daily life, providing scenes not common to big metropolis: children's laughter echoing as they swing beneath leafy trees, and communities gathering to applaud the sunset in its breathtaking sights, a collective appreciation for it’s beauty and the translation of people’s warmth.
In Singapore, the children enjoy a day at the park. The dichotomy is also present, contrasting the monumental and impersonal city’s skyscrapers with the purity of youth. The girls playing with bubbles and the city skyline as a background to a boy’s laugh are witnesses of pure and genuine joy.
In Paris, the sobriety takes place. The city long history of thinkers and intellectuals reflects on its people. Warm discussions at its numerous cafes and long walks by the Senna, with stops for appreciation and reflection, are common at the Parisian every day life. The youngness in the foreground against a cavas of bygone architecture echoes a it’s misture of tradition and revolution, the old and new.
In Seoul, the misture of past and present become even more pronounced, and the human presence is felt. This blend it’s noticeable at its temples, but also on the merge of people’s shadows with the concrete landscape.
And then Rome, where the presence of the past is even stronger, it’s the present that reveled itself in a heavy manner. The religiosity was contrasted with the fear of the unknown and then the movement of life offered hope of calmer futures. Here, the power of history in compose the cityscape gives space to the fantastic while bringing life to the concrete.
All these places, even distant apart, revels a common denominator: their contradictions, reflecting the human essence and the complexities of the human experience.
Echoing laughs, Rio de Janeiro 2012
Pure Joy, Singapore 2010
Bubbles, Singapore 2010
Exchange, Paris 2014
Reflection, Paris 2015
Framed times, Seoul 2019
Past present, Seoul 2019
Merge, Seoul 2019
Faith to the test, Rome 2020
