Tag: Film

Friday 13th

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Friday 13th, is, for some, an ominous day, when bad things are supposed to happen.

Not for me.

   Last Friday December 13th I went to the movies:  a film about czech Photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková  .( http://www.jarcovjakova.com/ ) A sucession of her black and white photos capturing scenes from her life in Prague in the sixties – mostly night-life scenes, of marginal minority groups. Lots of pictures also from Japan and West Berlin – fefore and after the fall of the Wall. Not my kind of photography, but anyway a well constructed documentary  about her life and work.

Another exhibition of images, now  from a portuguese photojournalist Carlos Lopes, who documented scenes from  the political activity in the days after the April revolution.  Late afternoon I was sitting outside with a glass of wine in dowtown Lisbon. Crowds of people shopping for Christmas, street musicians playing  and a general feeling of joy.

At 6:00 PM at Santa Clara Market an interesting exhibition from the “12 X 12 group”. This is an association of former and current Arts students. Their small-format works (watercolour paintings,engravings, drawings) was presented inside plastic CD boxes and sold at low prices.

Later, at the same venue, a drawing session with a live model

  Not a bad day for a Friday 13th…

By the Tagus again.

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Now from a morning walk along the North Bank. I was carrying the small Soviet-made camera Smena-8 and took advantage of the intermitent sunlight.

Some people standing, walking, running and cycling

A few steps West, a meditating person sittin on an old pier – and a couple walking slowly on the rocks as if looking for something.

A cheap plastic camera can make decent images !!!

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“Boxing Clash #2”, an amateur boxing match between Portuguese and Italian teams in a Gym near Lisbon, Lots of enthusiasm, some agressivity and violence to an acceptable level (no serious injuries, no bleedings). Not being a fan or an expert, it was an interesting experience to me. I was surprised by the high number of women watching the match – and by their vocal incentives to the fighters.

Mud

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A walk yesterday along the south bank of the Tagus, on a calm morning with gray skies and little sun. Low tide leaves large areas of mud along the shore, covered in green slime. On the muddy surface an old fisherman is making repairs on his boat, probably as old as he is. Further ahead, a goose walks proudly, dominating his territory.

The river (again)

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Another trip along the Tagus, with a Zorki-1 camera, an Industar-22 manual lens and a roll of Eastman plus-X (the camera, the lens and the film have been out of production for years). Old stuff, but it works.

Living next to the river makes us familiar with it, but it ends up becoming a banal presence for many people.   We can contemplate it, run along the shore or, simply, turn our backs on it, ignoring it.

Or not even use the chairs that allow us to so easily look at it.

The days are numbered

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An  exhibition of photographs by Daniel Blaufuks at the Museum of Architecture Art and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon. I selected two of many photos exposed. A few hundreds of small instax photos, isolated or paired, with hand-written, printed or glued captions.

From the introductory text by João Pinharanda :

“We created time and immediately felt hemmed in and devoured by it. Memory is a betrayal of time. We have always tried, without success, to escape it, to negate its erosive influence – a Sisyphean task in which Blaufuks, who exposes to the world the weight of the myriad epochs and memories (family, personal, historical, political, cultural, …) he carries, participates.

Some more information here https://maat.pt/en/event/daniel-blaufuks-days-are-numbered

By the river

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Saturday afternoon, South bank of the Tagus. People gather there to meet, eat and drink.

Some people prefer to be left alone. A moment of rest to settle ideas and feelings

Others  choose to dance. A group of friends, or more probably an informal dancing class. They bring their own music and dance in pairs. One of them directs the others, giving instructions before each music sometimes correcting their movements. They seem to take this quite seriously – but they share and communicate a lot of joy.

Some people make and play their own music…

… while others sit and talk, probably about the good old times

Time portals

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An exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the April Revolution and the end of the colonial wars in Africa. Seven artists created images on very large semi-transparent canvases, installed in the abandoned buildings of the largest ship repair industry in the Lisbon area.

There is visible light from the roof windows coming in through the canvases.

Puppet theater

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June 13th was Lisbon’s municipal holiday – and that day coincides with the date of birth of the painter Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (1908-1992). There was a celebration at the Arpad Szenes-Vieira da Silva museum and in Amoreiras Garden, in front of the museum. As I passed by I noticed a group of children watching a puppet show.

It’s nice to see children looking at a something alive instead of being mesmerized by a screen…