Many elderly people still live in the central Lisbon. The capital city is notoriously steep, but they manage to climb all its precipitous streets and stairways. At the same time, city planners have been successful luring younger generations from more remote neighborhoods outside the city center. But neither the city nor the new arrivals deny the importance of the elderly in the history of these neighborhoods, and two photo projects are paying them tribute by exhibiting their names and faces in the heart of Lisbon, on the same streets one might run into them.
On display in the Jardim do Torel on the slopes of the Sao Jose district are 14 tightly framed faces shot against a black background, smiling over hilly Lisbon. Photographer Artur Cabral is behind the project: “It all began when I was testing the lighting for some portraits in my studio with my colleague, Miguel Sequeira Aço. We were playing with the framing, background and exposure until I found what I was looking for. I realized that the lighting would be perfect for portraits of subjects with pronounced features. Many older people still live in this part of central Lisbon, so perhaps it was a good idea.”
On a nearby hill leading up to Castelo de São Jorge lies the Mouraria district. Left to itself for many years, today Lisbon is reinvesting in this lesser-known part of the city to attract tourists and businesses. On a winding street too small to appear on a city map is the exhibition A Tribute by Camilla Watson. In the black-and-white photographs, washed out by time and bad weather, moments in the lives of the elderly are captured with gentleness and intimacy
Here the portraits are of people living on the same street or nearby, people who walk down this narrow alley several times a day. Many visitors linger. They prefer it here to the empty streets where only tramways live.
Read the full article on the French version of L’Oeil de la Photographie.
Expositions
«Obrigado »
de Artur Cabral et Miguel Sequeira Aço
Since September 2013
Jardim do Torel, Sao Joao
Lisbonne
Portugal
http://www.arturcabral.com/exhibitions
« A Tribute »
De Camilla Watson
Since 2009
Beco das Farinhas, La Mouraria
Lisbonne
Portugal
http://www.camillawatsonphotography.net/
