Renato Cruz Santos
Caxifornia
Curated by Carlos Lobo
Opening: 3 July- 18h30
Sala de Exposições da EA
3 July - 4 October 2023

Caxifornia right next door.

There are several theorists who argue that the real has died or that perhaps it never even existed. Such a statement can provoke astonishment, especially if we are fans of the practice of photography as a mere mirror of reality. The history of photography has always taught us to be suspicious of photography as a mere reproduction of reality, especially in current times when artificial intelligence devices manage to manufacture very (hyper) realistic images that deceive a less surgical or trained eye. In this perspective, the question of the authenticity of the images does not seem relevant to be debated. In fact, the images that Renato Cruz Santos presents to us of the territory of Caxinas have something both very real and surreal as it is the result of a specific vision or visual construction of a very peculiar territory.

Let me try to explain: wikipedia explains us succinctly that: “Caxinas is a fishing area, which is part of Vila Do Conde. Fishing center, full of traditions (...)” What wikipedia does not inform us is that Caxinas is a territory between two cities: Vila do Conde (where it belongs by geographical area) and Póvoa de Varzim. In other words, a kind of frontier, a territory with its own characteristics and, according to its inhabitants, these same characteristics are proudly unique. It is precisely in this area, at once indistinct and idiosyncratic, that the magical and peculiar images of Renato Cruz Santos arise, images born from the intuition not of a passing photographer, but of a native of this territory, of a “local boy”, if we can so designate it. These are, in fact, images that show us a territory that, with few exceptions, cannot be seen from the road on the waterfront where tourists or holidaymakers stroll, but one that obliges oneself to penetrate through the innermost streets and alleys, inhabited by the natives that the photographer knows so well.

If Americans have the original California, which is also a border zone, Renato Cruz Santos offers us in this exhibition his vision of what we can call our own “Caxifornia”, so unique and special, so real, but at the same time unreal, which will have its first premiere at School of Arts. I wonder if after this exhibition, the keys to the city would not be well handed to a fellow countryman so genuinely passionate about the territory that saw him grow and that he knows perfectly well.

Carlos Lobo