Grupo IF

Quando li este texto escrito pela Ângela para o blogue da Associação Portuguesa de Photographia houve um nome que me despertou especial interesse. "Conhecia" há muito um José Carlos Príncipe, investigador de uma área científica à qual estou indirectamente ligado através do meu laboratório. Já uma vez me cruzara com ele, num hotel de Lisboa, durante uma avaliação de projectos da FCT. No entanto, nunca colaborámos nem trocámos qualquer mensagem, e por isso ser-me-ia impossível verificar, sem ser intrusivo, se o José Carlos Príncipe que actualmente se encontra na Universidade da Florida é o mesmo que nos anos 70 se envolveu com o Grupo IF. Ainda perdi algum tempo a fazer pesquisas na rede, mas acabei por desistir e nunca mais me lembrei desta história. Hoje, ao folhear a revista Única do Expresso encontrei uma entrevista com Príncipe. No final, lá estava a referência à paixão adiada pela Fotografia e à passagem pelo Grupo IF. Afinal, ainda estamos a tempo de fazer a História deste agregado de fotógrafos que, nos anos 70 do século passado, animou a fotografia portuense.

Carlos Miguel Fernandes

Atlas IV

Atlas, one of the titans in Greek mythology, fought Zeus in the war between the Olympian gods and their predecessors. After ten years of confrontation, the gods won. While some of the defeated titans were sent to Tartarus, Atlas was condemned to hold up the sky on his shoulders.

The Atlantic Ocean, unlike the mythological figure after which it was named, does not hold up the sky; it sustains villages and people from three continents, instead. It is thus closer to the popular misconception of Atlas, where the unfortunate titan is represented holding the Earth (instead of the firmament), upon his shoulders.

Carlos Miguel Fernandes, Blue Lagoon, Iceland, 2006

Carlos Miguel Fernandes

Atlas III

Blaue Streifen
stiegen im Osten auf;
sanft und schnell
segelt das Schiff:
auf ruhiger See vor Abend
erreichen wir sicher das Land.

(Blue shadows
are rising up in the east;
smoothly and swiftly
the ship sails on:
on a calm sea, before evening,
we shall safely reach land.)

Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde, Act One, Scene One

Atlas II

25 years since the opening of Ether (1982/1996), the curtain rises once again on a new space in Lisbon exclusively dedicated to photography: the P4Photography Gallery. Following the success of the first photography auctions in Portugal (which began in 2006), P4 developed a new strategy focusing on the photography arts in general. This includes the creation of a data base and sale of Portuguese photography books (several of them out of print), the production of limited edition prints and now the foundation of a photography gallery.

The P4Photography Gallery, which will show the work of both Portuguese and foreign artists, aims to become a major player in the photography field in Portugal. Some of the great international photographers have worked in Portugal, showing a particular empathy with the Portuguese sensibility: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lou Stettner, Thurston Hopkins, Harry Callahan, Sebastião Salgado, etc. More recently, Sarah Moon, Candida Hoffer, Hedi Slimane and Bert Teunisssen have also paid tribute to this fascination.

Several Portuguese contemporary photographers – Gérard Castello-Lopes, Paulo Nozolino, Jorge Molder, José M. Rodrigues, Helena Almeida, Edgar Martins, Daniel Blaufuks and others – have also become internationally known, spreading the Portuguese way of seeing (if such a thing exists).

The P4Photography Gallery will exhibit not only well-known photographers but also newcomers, particularly those with an interest in all things Portuguese. A daunting task when one thinks that there are traces of Portugal all over the world.

Carlos M. Fernandes, João Mariano and Rui Fonseca are three photographers whose work reflects this philosophy. They have traveled extensively (Iceland, Norway, Continental Portugal and the Azores,) in search of the overwhelming energy of the Atlantic and Atlas.

Luís Trindade

p4photography Director

http://www.p4photography.com/

João Mariano (Atlas)

Atlas

Aqui está uma possível justificação para a prolongada ausência.
A ambição é grande. A p4 e os fotógrafos a ela associados pretendem mudar a forma como se mostra e comercializa fotografia em Portugal. Vamos tentar agitar as coisas e esperamos que esta exposição tenha o impacto que a nossa dedicação à causa merece.

(A fotografia do convite é do Rui Fonseca. O trabalho do João Mariano pode ser visto em http://www.joaomariano.com/. Eu adquiri um domínio novo, http://www.carlosmfernandes.com/, mas ainda preciso de acertar com o formato das páginas.)

Carlos Miguel Fernandes