a blog about photography by Sofia Silva
photo caption (above): Sofia Silva, ‘Ego support #2’, from the project ‘The Orchestra’, 2011. Fine Art print, 60x70cm. I started teaching soon after finishing an MFA in Glasgow. Since then, I’ve often remember something one of my tutors told me before I came back to Portugal. He warned me that choosing to teach could be…
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Caption (image above): lumen/chemigram (by Sofia Silva) More about William Miller‘s work here. William Miller about Ruined Polaroids: “With its first use I realized the camera wasn’t functioning properly. It sometimes spills out 2 pictures at a time and the film often gets stuck in the gears, exposing and mangling the images in unpredictable…
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Caption (image above): lumen on expired 120 ektachrome film (by Sofia Silva) More about Nobuhiro Nakanishi‘s work here. Nobuhiro Nakanishi: “The theme of my work is ‘the physical that permeates into the art piece.’ In a foggy landscape, we no longer see what we are usually able to see – the distance to the…
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Caption (image above): lumen on expired 4×5” ektachrome film (by Sofia Silva) More about Jacqueline Butler‘s work here. Jacqueline Butler: “Glass and Paper Landscapes evolved from a study of the collection of negatives and prints of the photographer and author Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) held in the Insight Photographic Archive at the National Media…
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Caption (image above): image of filter used for anthotype work (by Sofia Silva) More about Katie Kalkstein‘s work here. … More about Tina Rowe‘s work here. Tina Rowe: “This work in the baldest terms comes from a series of negatives that were found in a bin with other items related to photography. It seems…
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Caption (image above): lumen on expired 4×5” ektachrome film (by Sofia Silva) More about Lesia Maruschak‘s work here. Lesia Maruschak: “ERASURE: Memory and The Power of Politics has three points of departure: A practice entitled damnatio memoriae – a Latin phrase dating back to the 4th century BCE – resulting in the erasure of…
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Caption (image above): lumen on expired agfa fiber bromide paper (by Sofia Silva) More about Almudena Romero‘s work here. Almudena Romero: “Growing Concerns uses plants from former British colonies as a canvas to host images that reflect on the links between plant trade, colonialism and migration, and the legacy of these in modern day…
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More of Timothy Nolan’s work here. In my current work, I start with handmade collages, combining photography of unique geological terrain, outdated scientific graphics, and Art Deco patterns. These are scanned, digitally and manually marked, cut, and re-collaged. The larger works are then printed on aluminum or vinyl (in the case of the recent wall…
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More of Jacob Burge’s work here. “Computers are quietly taking over as our main source of memory back up. Enabling us to store, display and edit our version of reality”, excerpt from Burge’s statement about Recall. … “Japan has got a lot of active volcanoes. The internet tells me there are about 110 of them,…
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photo caption (image above): Intervention on stone by unknown author, Sintra, 2019. * * * More of Marília‘s work can be seen here. * * * More of Ana‘s work can be seen here. * * * A conversation between Marta Romero and Dana Nechman can be read here.
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photo caption (image above): © Alia Ali, BORDERLAND Series, 107 cm x 72 cm. Pigment Print on Cotton Rag 310 gr. 1 AP + 1 EP + 5 Editions, 2017. ALIA ALI “Alia Ali (1985) is a Yemeni-Bosnian-American multi-media artist”. Her work with fabric and thread is present throughout her entire body of work, referencing…
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caption (image above): Self-published box – The Memory of History, by Lewis Bush, 2012. I’ve recently arrive at Lewis Bush virtual sphere (aka blog) and am coming out with that feeling of content and surprise that is often too rare. A friend had sent me a message with a text about Don McCullin’s retrospective @…
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More of Amparo Garrido’s work here. Author’s statement about the project: One day, many years ago, I had a nightmare: The bogeyman came after me. I was in my bed. I jumped and went to the window because I knew that my mother was on the opposite floor. I called for her help,…
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Caption (photo above: image from Kollar’s book Field Trip. Source: STET Photography Editions. More of Kollar’s work here. I’d say this is the exception and not the rule: sometimes authors’ statements about their work really add to it. I think this is the case: a brief and sincere text about the emotional experience that results…
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Campaign posters for the British Army (by agency Karmarama), targeting youth and using the same psychological strategies used in propaganda recruitment from extremists groups, making youngsters believe they need a higher purpose in life and offering the solution: to join the army. Image showing the installation of a photograph in the context of an exhibition.…
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caption: detail from Dioso Simões’ booklet in Propeller Propaganda. Deisgn by Paulo Arraiano. When we asked Diogo to collaborate with Propeller Propaganda, there was a lot of possibilities in the air and no pre-established idea of what he could publish. After some options were dropped, the series of photographs we then published was suggested, but…
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caption: © Elizaveta Porodina, portrait of Lily D. Moore, for Radical Beauty Project. I came across this project through a very complimentary review in the Guardian. The Radical Beauty Project is about “challenging opinions”, questioning perceptions about beauty. It brings together people with down’s syndrome and “40 renowned fashion and art photographers”. In creative director…
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More about São Trindade’s work Dead Inside can be seen here. More about São Trindade’s book Bad Liver and a Broken Heart can be seen here.
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image caption (above): © Margarida Gouveia, Beautiful People #1, poster for Propeller #3 – Propaganda, 2019. More of Margarida’s recent work can be seen here. These black-and-white photographs constitute an imaginary that calls to mind scientific and forensic photography. They are imbued with a sense of strangeness and of a hygienic and strictly functional world in…
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image caption (above): © Soraya Vasconcelos, untitled, digital c-print, 122×163 cm, 2007. More of Soraya’s recent work can be seen here. Models of “territories” are constructed with organic matter and inorganic material: paint, pigments, varnishes, wax, plaster… There is a process of constructionIs it possible to formulate a general theory of artistic collaboration? And…
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photo caption (above): Chine, Shenzhen, 2017, Scene #1350 © Alex Majoli / Magnum Photos Les employés d’un institut de beauté participent à une réunion de motivation avant de commencer leur travail. When is enough, enough? Vice is obviously no reference when it comes to dignifying the use of photographs in the media, but still I…
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image caption (above): © Paulo Arraiano, Swiping Reality, 2016, Acrylic On Canvas, 180 x 150 cm. More of Paulo’s work can be seen here. Excerpt from Miguel Moore‘s FOLD/FAULT. More here. In the fast-paced frenzy that drives our contemporary societies, where thoughts and impulses are beamed by way of artificial satellites and express the paramount need to…
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For quite some time I made very simple posts showcasing artwork from authors who used photography in a way that somehow interested me. Back to the old ways here are some images from Ramona Guntert‘s work. Some words from the author about her own work here. excerpt from a conversation between Ramona Guntert…
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Photo caption: Amanda Feilding and Birdie Propeller‘s crew is responsible for introducing me to Helen MacDonald‘s H is for Hawk. When we started working together they’d frequently talk about the book and stress out how I would love it. I never doubted I would, but kept wondering what associations led them all to feel so…
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Photo caption: Nagika taking a shit while staring at the sun I moved to the region where I currently live in the Summer of 2016. It’s quiet here and silence becomes truly special. From that moment on, I’ve learnt to love birds. I think that started one night when a owl (Athene noctua) began to…
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Photo caption: Helen MacDonald and her first ever hawk, a kestrel called Amy. Photo taken by her father (source: twitter). I’ve been preparing a text about the cheesy category in nature photography, particularly regarding photographs of birds. For now, some of the images that have been accompanying this reflection while I try to deviate from…
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Still from HyperNormalisation showing journalist Daniel Pearl. This is mostly a critic of Adam Curtis‘ work for the show Mezzanine XXI, performed by Massive Attack, although their curating act is equally up for critics. I went to their concert a few days ago, in Lisbon, and was ill impressed (to say the least). I knew…
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Here is the editorial I’ve written for Propeller #3, about Propaganda. This editorial introduces a series of great essays, namely: Fire Inside, by Pete Brook, Propaganda and photography at the front door, by Teresa Mendes Flores, and Shooting in the name of (and now you do what they told ya): Photojournalism – keeping the status…
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The following text is a short and edited version of the essay written about Valter Ventura‘s exhibition Light and Darkness, (“Compêndio de observações fotográficas: luz e cegueira”), produced specifically for the Lisbon Municipal Photographic Archive. The full original version was published in the respective catalog. Several mythological narratives account for the gods’ will to punish…
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caption: unknown author, at Stockholm Pride Festival In the past few weeks several events concerning cultural appropriation have motivated public discussions. I’ll be focusing on three: Gucci’s blackface jumper, Amanda Lind‘s dreadlocks and Donata Meirelles birthday photograph with two black women wearing traditional Bahian outfits. The fact that I’m appropriating these events in order to talk about cultural…
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Propaganda has been a recurrent theme in my life since June 2018 when we, at Propeller, decided that should be the theme for the following edition, which will finally be out on february 20th. I’m also working on the theme with undergraduate students in the context of a larger project about media and photography’s relation…
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caption: © Brent Stirton, A young Aids affected child in the home of his HIV+ drug addicted mother in their poverty stricken village on the first day of school, Donetsk, Ukraine, 1 September 2011. I know, I know… what can I possibly have to say about this that I haven’t before? Not much. Ethics in…
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