Artist
João Ramilo Gomes Barros de Figueiredo
João Ramilo Gomes Barros de Figueiredo, known as João Ramilo, was born in 1999 in Porto, Portugal. His interest in photography dates back to his adolescence, and ever since, he has beenexploring new techniques and approaches. He studied Photography at IADE – Creating Creatorsin Lisbon and is a finalist for his Master's in Photography at Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Porto. He learned from remarkable photographers such as José Luís Neto, Paulo Catrica, CarlosLobo, António Júlio Duarte, and Tito Mouraz.
As an artist, João Ramilo aims to document human intervention in the world, capturing theinteraction between them. The essence of his work is to portray social and economic issues through images and immortalize those moments in time.
Currently, he resides in Lisbon and works as a freelance photographer.
Da pedra ao osso
As a photographer, I have been reflecting on what drives me as an artist. With this project I intended to explore a personal topic, namely the extinction of my village, Louriceira. The current political agenda and social issues in Portugal have led to a rising feeling of resignation and hopelessness among society, directly affecting citizens' engagement with the surrounding environment.
In general, we tend to underrate the immediate places we inhabit as photography objects/subjects. However, they are in constant change, which we often lightly embrace. This paradox is worthy of contemplation and reflection. Perhaps these transformations seemed acceptable to us until, later on, we see them represented in a photograph. In those moments, the present confronts the past, and we acknowledge their differences. Therefore, I have decided to explore my hometown, Louriceira, and my relationship with it, documenting its gradual disappearance and resignation. Taking the present as a starting point and without dismissing any heritage of
memory, I wanted to emphasize the crisis in rural daily life that evoke my concern. Despite attempts at preservation and modernization, the site tends not to endure, and I am distressed by the 'disappearance' of the village where I grew up. I seek an ontological understanding of space, where the relationship between person and place, place and person, is established, nourishing reflection on rural exodus. The visual evidence of deceleration, abandonment, and decay, observed through the peculiarities of ordinary life, draws my attention to this issue and is now documented in my work. It is a quiet village, lacking progress and ambition, and for these reasons, younger generations tend to leave. The narrative of the photographs wanders between opposing fields, encompassing themes of abandonment, destruction, and the possibilities of preservation. This project is not over, as I wish to follow and report further changes and maintenance in what surrounds me.
Teresa Freitas' work explores the potentiality of colour in photography influenced by painting and cinematic language. For FUTURES, she presents two long-term projects. The first, The Flower Chronicles: Rosa damascena, was developed in small communities around the world who work with traditions based on flower production. In this series, Freitas’ images depict the historical, cultural and socioeconomic dimensions of this activity, while the second project, Cinematica, is a work-in-progress that documents subjects around the world, focusing on the visual impact of colour in composition.
Rui Costa's work explores the poetic and subjective dimension of documentary photography. The project UMA AZEITONA BORDADA EM AZUL is an emotional manifestation about his grandmother, where signs of rupture and restlessness are the matrix of a dense photographic narrative. By interconnecting images from different sources – captured directly by the artist and taken from family albums – Costa creates multiple meanings.
Maria Beatriz de Vilhena's practice examines human nature through systems of belief and collective identity. Her portfolio includes three different bodies of work: Irene is an ongoing project that probes the emotional side of memory through personal photographs and family archives; OMNIS, generated as a collective collaboration, depicts a young religious community during World Youth Day in Lisbon; and Fractal represents the diverse practices of faith and worship present in religious communities in Lisbon.
Katya Bogachevskaia embraces photography as a therapeutic process, expressing her feelings about Russia's invasion of Ukraine while also questioning her own identity. Through the rituals of her daily life, Bogachevskaia documents her emotional state, probing themes of war, emigration, a loss of home, the uncertainty of the future, guilt and death.
João Ramilo's work metaphorically appraises different socio- and economic perspectives around his own village, Louriceira, in the Portugal interior. His ongoing project From rock to bone is an ontological reflection based on his concerns about the disappearance, resignation and preservation of place.