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The

Artist

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Photographer

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Visual Artist

Emanuel Constantino

Nominated in
2025
By
Bienal Fotografia do Porto
Lives and Works in
Porto, Portugal
Emanuel Constantino (b. 2002), Portugal, is an independent photographer currently living in Porto. He has a degree in Photography from School of Media Arts and Design, in P.Porto. He is currently studying for a Master's Degree in Cinema and Photography - Specialization in Photography - at the same institution. ‍He is interested in the practical process of photography in analog format and the unpredictability of the results it offers. His main focus of research and authorial creation is on the universe of documentary and fiction, in their various intersections and interactions. He seeks to understand and manipulate the boundary at which documentary ceases to be and begins to assert itself as fiction, and vice versa, in their mixture. Vernacular and archive photography are also areas he explores and addresses, often integrating them into his projects.
Projects
2024

"(…) se elas houverem, a gente vai tirá-las"

On the banks of the river Ave and the river Vizela, there have always been murmurs of an activity that was slowly undermining the pillars of some of the municipalities and parishes that depended on its waters. The industrial flood that settled in the Ave Valley threatened the natural ecosystem – and the mental health – of what used to be one of the region's most striking landscapes. The pollution spread by the discharge of toxic products into the waterways has led to a total imbalance in the local fauna and flora. These attitudes have consequently led to many aquatic species moving to other areas, or simply being driven to decay. Just as the murmurs of the textile industry were heard among the local population, the possible existence of an exotic species in the rivers was also heard – among timid conversations – which, if confirmed, would easily unravel the abrupt disappearance of the others.
Show full project
Emanuel Constantino
was nominated by
Bienal Fotografia do Porto
in
2025
Show all projects
Each year every member of the FUTURES European Photography Platform nominates a set of artists and projects to become part of the FUTURES network.

Inês Quente’s They Dream Not is a research project, initiated through an ArtsIceland international artistic residency and expanded in Aveiro, Portugal. The work, incorporating alternative and historical photography, analog film, drawing and collage, investigates places rich in nature, with diverse geography and weather conditions, to understand the profound relationship between the Earth and all its inhabitants (Animal/Plant/Fungus). Quente lives in Lisbon and has an MA in Documentary Filmmaking from the University for the Creative Arts, UK, and a BA from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto, Portugal.

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Emanuel Constantino is interested in the practical process of photography in analog format and the unpredictability of the results it offers. His project (…) se elas houverem, a gente vai tirá-las (if there are any, we'll take them out) examines the universe of documentary and fiction in their various intersections and interactions. This curious, inventive body of work was activated by Constantino’s discovery of an online archive – the 1995 Radio and Television Portugal broadcast titled ‘Rumour about Piranhas in the River Ave’. Constantino lives in Porto and has a BA in Photography from the School of Media Arts and Design in Porto, Portugal where he is currently undertaking a MA in Cinema and Photography.

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Drawing inspiration from Walter Benjamin’s ideas on mechanical reproduction, Jessica Gaspar’s project Cells investigates how digital apparatuses can expand our sensory capabilities. The camera becomes an extension of vision, unveiling layers of reality beyond what the naked eye perceives. Just as microscopy reveals hidden worlds, Cells proffers an alternative lens to the everyday, an intersection between the organic and the artificial. Gaspar lives in Porto and holds a PhD in Science and Technology of the Arts from Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Porto, Portugal and a BVA from the Universidade Lusófona, Lisbon, Portugal.

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To João Bragança Gil João The Origin (On&On) is a type of ‘origin’ that approaches and retreats, meets and diverges. The project utilizes pre-digital media of carousel and photo slides to project a circular notion of time. The tangibility of the process slows time and creates a reflective viewer engagement, with time, as we know it, transformed. Based in Lisbon, Bragança Gil has a BA in Industrial Design from the School of Arts and Design, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal; an MA in Industrial Design from Central Saint Martins, UK, and a BA from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Universidade Lisboa, Portugal where he is currently pursuing a PhD in Media Arts.

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Patricia Assiss's project terceira pálpebra (third eyelid) brings together a photographic series taken in urban spaces. The monochromatic images appear as a collection of apparently opaque, inert gestures, as if paralysed in an uncertain time, but which simultaneously reveal a city in movement and transformation. Lisbon based, Assiss has a an MA in Culture Studies from the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, Portugal, and is a Post-Graduate in Contemporary Photography Discourses, Faculty of Fine Arts, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, where she also achieved a Bachelor in Political Science and International Relations.

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Selection committee

Virgílio Ferreira and Jayne Dyer, Co-Artistic Directors, Bienal Fotografia do Porto 2025

Vera Carmo, independent curator

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