“The series presented here was shot in Portugal over a 3-year period and represents a transformed landscape that portrays the existence of Man as a constructive, reconstructive and contemplative being. The landscape appears completely and irreversibly transformed and it was this transformation that caught my eye and fueled my interest in conducting this project, basing it on this very landscape.”
In the latest book from Tito Mouraz, Open Space Office, the photographs depict a landscape of controlled geometry. Altered nature retains its nobleness. Rocks are everywhere.
“I find it difficult to transmit on film the personal experience and all that one feels and observes at these immense and torn sites, where silence is felt in an unnatural and intimidating way. It is a well know fact that an image cannot replace reality. That is why I chose to include parts of a hidden horizon or an incomplete landscape, in this way suggesting a different perspective, since the proximity to these sites which grow in the opposite direction to what is normal, are usually unobserved by the spectator almost giving them the chance to rebuild them. “
The choice of tight frames erases reality and leads us instead towards the abstraction of time and place. The space constructs the image from the interior. The images are spaces where the shapes and lines evolve without restraint. This construction of the image creates a mise-en-abyme with the construction of the space: the optimization of this workspace, this “Open Space office” remains inaccessible to man even after his intervention.
The experience of the photo series combines with that of the book. There are no captions: the places and the spaces remain anonymous. Their identity is directly in the image. The silence, which reflects a solitary experience, is found in the layout. On a double page, only a single photograph appears, on the right side of the page. Through this choice, the discovery of these spatial constructions increases the intimacy. We feel a gaze, a presence: that of the photographer or perhaps our own. It’s a gradual discovery, like a path, from one scale to the next.
Book
Tito Mouraz
Open Space Office
Texts: Carlos Vidal & Tito Mouraz
English and Portuguese text
Softcover (360gr)
28,5 x 37,8 cm
44p.
24 Color Images
Design: Bolos Quentes
Publisher: self-published
500 copies
First Edition
Offset
30€ + Shipping Cost
