Parcelas belongs to an ongoing project, related to land management and its transformation. It shows a landscape divided into plots through the construction of walls. The allotment’s state of abandonment, or rather its rest, is visible, giving space for vegetation to grow again. A construction that seems to be born a ruin, a ruin that multiplies.
‘There is more to Urban Limits than a Circular Road’ is a photographic essay of numerous dérives made around urban areas in the Umbrian region of Italy.
While walking towards the outer areas of a city I am being guided by what my senses recognise as limits of an urban area. Main infrastructures such as larger roads, railroads and railway stations, dormitory blocks, industries, or even large shopping malls, are what primarily bounds my areas of interest. From an improvised solution at a tennis court, to the child’s swing overlooking the cable car line, passing by the saddened truth of suburbia-looking cemetery houses, to the quirky shapes of one’s property fence, all these peculiar situations convey a certain humor and irony to me. These borderline urban areas can often feel as monotonous as circular roads, since they end up being used mostly as rapid pass-through places. But when they are observed at a walking pace, several elements turn visible, displaying their function, shape or presence. Those elements found here convey me a sentiment of urban limit.
The project has been awarded the selection for the 2022 Bienal de Fotografia de Vila Franca de Xira (November 2022-January 2023).
The project has been exhibited at a solo show at Câmara Escura Gallery – CCC in Torres Vedras (January-February 2022).
Photographs of this project have been exhibited at ART MATTERS 3, Galerie Biesenbach in Cologne (April 2021), at REA Art Fair in Milan (September 2021) and at Zaratan Gallery in Lisbon (November-December 2021).
Technical details:
Inkjet prints on fine-art cotton paper, Editions of 3 + 1 A.P.
Ruídos da espera (2021) is an audiovisual piece produced near the South entrance of Tunnel de Tende, in the border between France and Italy.
Due to the storm that hit the region in October 2020 landslides swept homes, roads and other infrastructures. More than one year from the catastrophe piles of road rails are still scattered along the only access road. Many inhabitants are still waiting for their homes to be rebuild.
Ongoing project started in 2020 with the aim to explore the limits of where it is currently possible to travel through digital and virtual maps. These composed images are the result of derives in different Eastern European countries, such as Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and Croatia.
Technical details:
Digital images printed on 35mm slide film.
Urbe (2017-2019) is a series of photographs made while walking on several cities during the night time. Whole neighbourhoods are void of movement and the streets are taken over by dormant automobiles, the people’s most private belongings left outside, presumably the nearest possible to the front door of their owners house.
In an experiment to scratch the border between public and private space within the urban landscape, gardens are overlooked, fences trespassed and building entrances visited. A recurrent theme are the casualties present on both automobiles and co-existing adjacent constructed scenarios, all at the mercy of proximity with each other.
The project has been exhibited at 5D Creative Hub Gallery in Lisbon (September 2018) and at Banco das Artes Gallery in Leiria (September-November 2019).
Technical details:
Dimensions of 40x60cm and 30x45cm.
Inkjet prints on Hahnemühle Baryte paper, Editions of 3 + 1 A.P.
Alone Together shows architectural and urban details documenting an improvisation, maintenance or lack thereof, within the urban space. The project that began in September 2016 reflects on how a space is shaped, used and modified. It values the observation of peculiar situations that defy the norm.
A self published photobook was created as part of this project.
The project was exhibited at MUTE Gallery in Lisbon (March 2018) and at Banco das Artes Gallery in Leiria (September-November 2019).
Technical details:
Inkjet prints on fine-art cotton paper, Editions of 3 + 1 A.P.
Rafael Raposo Pires 