The Last Lands
“Maldita ponte,” or “cursed bridge,” is the nickname given by the inhabitants of Alcochete to the Vasco da Gama Bridge that connects the small town to Lisbon. Built in 1995, the structure accelerated the transformation of this former agricultural and natural territory into “Margem Sul,” or “Lisbon South Bank.” The farms and their lands, abandoned after the decline of agriculture that began in the 1970s, were sold off one after the other, giving way to housing developments scattered throughout, with little urban coherence. Commercial spaces, logistics centers, and road junctions further eroded the landscape. Agriculture still survives, and here and there, a few pockets of wild nature.
Françoise Lerusse’s series “The Last Lands” seeks to trace this territory in transition. It addresses the inexorable erasure of a natural and agricultural heritage where peri-urbanization is progressing rapidly, in real time before the eyes of the photographer, who has been cycling through it for several years. This sensitive story speaks to the universal theme of the complex relationship we have with nature, but also to its bitter struggle for survival, in the interstices left by man. Françoise Lerusse’s photographs combine a documentary-like approach with more intimate, poetic images, connected to the photographer’s personal story.
“The Last Lands” is now the subject of a self-published book, available on the photographer’s website:
