Pai Mar photographs were taken as member of APCM – Portuguese Association for Marine Sciences, from July 24, 2019 to August 2, in the city of Mindelo, São Vicente island and from August 2 to August 14, on the island of Santiago as part of the project EU MSCA-RISE-777998 CONCHA
(The construction of early modern global Cities and oceanic networks in the Atlantic: An approach via Ocean’s Cultural Heritage): Cape Verde are islands and, as such, seascapes.
The thin, oscillating line that separates the liquid medium from the dry medium, and very dry that is the interior of Cape Verde, is only understandable by living your map. It is walking through its territory to feel its orographic condition, to see its net horizon.
A blue sometimes in the distance, almost in costume, other times very present, imposing itself dramatically. If a border spans two worlds that seem distant, they also fuse them together, making them touch each other in a much larger spectrum.
I always start my photographic projects by raising questions that I consider important to answer visually. Then I look for answers, either through contact with people, interviewing them, or from places or objects that are significant to the subject that I’m working on. I plan so that through the photographic process I can follow a “controlled drift”: where casual and intuition work together leading the work, but never losing focus of the initial plan.
I really believe knowledge is an important tool, that’s why, as PhD candidate in Contemporary Art, I am researching the relationship between documentary photography and collective memory. The objective is to try to understand the contribution of the inclusion of fictional nature images that is, of a less documental nature, in collective memory building.
Personally I have always had the perception that as time goes by, pictures survive us while memories degrade. With time, I became more and more interested on how images relate and produce meaning, as well as stimulate narratives. Photography became a way of not forgetting or rescuing me from forgetfulness.
About Hermano Noronha
Doctoral student, Colégio das Artes, Coimbra University, MA Artistic Contemporary Creation, Aveiro University, 2014. In 2020 “Pai Mar” Photographic Project was selected for printing by Cahier d’images. In 2018 was jury of photography of the 10th LabJovem, Regional Direction of Culture of the Azores. In 2017 coordinated the INVISIVEL Project for the 16th anniversary of the Expansion and Remodeling of the Maritime Museum of Ílhavo; developed the project “From the Fishing Community to the Tourist Community”, within the framework of the celebrations of the centenary of elevation from Quarteira to Parish; and was the Artistic Artistic Coordinator of the ReSart Marvão Art Residence. In 2016 he developed the project “Half Orange” for the Maritime Museum of Ílhavo. In 2015 he was a finalist at the International EI Awards 2015 – Encontros da Imagem; Selected for the CreArt 2015 European Exhibition “Me and the City” with exhibitions in Pardubice, Linz and Genoa. In 2014 he is the recipient of the grant Estação Imagem Mora 2014, starting the “PRESENTE” project within the Master.
