By SUE HALL [email protected]
An exhibition of photography, video and other visual arts was launched on February 16 at the Palácio da Galeria in Tavira. The subject of the exhibition is the Algarve and Andalucia “Geographies of Water and other Dreams”.
Sea, rivers, mountains and hills are illuminated by the Iberian lens. The stillness before the possibility of tempest is present in some photographs. Water, water droplets, heat, coloured soil, streams, creeks, forests, trees, plants, meadows, ponds, lakes, oceans, rock formations, vapour and texture are the elements that bring the exhibition into unity.
The eight artists from Spain and Portugal span a generation, with the youngest, Joana Rosa Bragança, 26, being one of the two women exhibiting. She currently lives and works in Olhão where she designs and illustrates using the mediums of printmaking and photography. Some of her illustrations use three-dimensions.
The other artists are Antonio Camoyán, Alexandre Manuel, Ela-Rafaela Rodriguez, Héctor Garrido, Miguel Proença, Roberto Luna and Vasco Célio.
Antonio Camoyán was born in Santa Cruz de La Palma in the Canary Islands in 1941. He says that “water is the soul of landscape”. This is certainly evident in many of the images.
 Some of the photographers during the exhibition launch last Saturday |
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Alexandre Manuel, 33, is of French-Portuguese nationality. His passion is photographing landscapes. He focuses on the contemplation of the landscape and the endless possibilities of expression using light.
Ela-Rafaela Rodriguez was born in Palma del Rio, Cordoba. She has been a Sevilla resident for the last 35 years. In her photographs, Rodriguez shows how the stillness of dawn pervades the rivers and waters. She recreates a serene and peaceful atmosphere with these elements.
Héctor Garrido was born in Huelva, Spain, in 1969. He is a photographer specialising in science, nature and portrait creation. From 2007 to 2012, he was the Coordinator of Scientific Culture of the National Research Council in Andalusia.
Miguel Proença started photography in the 1970s. He began studying photography as a fellow at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art in the UK. He is based in Tavira and Lisbon and his images of landscape have a surreal sense of “making strange” what is real.
Roberto Luna was born in Seville in 1941. He has a solid background in Fine Arts and was Professor of Photography (1982-1987) at the School of Fine Arts, University La Laguna (Tenerife).
Vasco Célio is a photographer and writer. He specialises in the visual arts. He is a graduate in Arts and Cultural Programming.
This is certainly an exhibition featuring world class photographers.
The exhibition runs until May and can be seen from Tuesday to Saturday, from 10am to 12.30pm and from 2pm to 5.30pm.
