During the month of October, the 6 emerging artists, nominated by the photography teachers of the partner faculties of the Porto Photography Biennial, will present their portfolios as part of Project Rooms.
School of Arts will be represented by Luisa Fernandes, a Master's student in Photography, one of the 6 artists selected from the 6 partner art schools (SoA - UCP, ESMAD, ESAP, FBAUL, FAUP and FBAUP) to take part in this project. Her presentation will take place on October 31, between 4:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m., at Ci.CLO (Rua Santo Ildefonso, 354, R/C).
These presentations are the culmination of the second edition of Project Rooms, a project by Bienal'24 Fotografia do Porto that supports the creation of portfolios and promotes meetings and networking opportunities between emerging artists and arts professionals.
At School of Arts of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, no Porto, Carlos Lobo, Nuno Crespo and Sónia Neves were the professors who nominated the student.
LUÍSA FERNANDES
Luísa Fernandes is a Portuguese artist, born in Porto in 1996. She studied Photography at the Portuguese Institute of Photography in Porto, and a
Master's Degree in Photography at the School of Arts of the Portuguese Catholic University. A her first solo exhibition took place at Livraria Aberta, in Porto, in May of
2024.
“When I look into Luísa's eyes, there's a lot of irreverence that comes through right away,” she says. first glance, a directness that her voice doesn't hold. The frown
that accompanies her verbal speech is comparable to her smile behind the camera.
behind the camera body. When I look through Luísa's lens, I feel
I have is that I couldn't be so free of any social construction. Looking at myself through her photographs is the rawest way I could ever have imagined - it's not easy to look at myself. I could ever imagine - it's not easy to look at me, but she sees me and represents me as I am, as I I feel at the exact moment of the click.” (C.Costa)
The project
The Beyond Form project was carried out with the intention of providing a platform for the free expression of queer people, creating an affront to the stereotypes that encompass the LGBT+ community as one. It was decided that each person photographed would be free to choose how to pose and what accessories to use,
in order to create a faithful representation. I intervened in the choice of setting and the absence of clothing, both to create a feeling of uniformity in the images and to de-sexualize the queer naked body. The choice of the framing of the bodies is historically inspired (from the Renaissance to the Contemporary) in the academic representation of the human figure. Often, draperies were used to cover the figures, whereas I use them to undress the bodies and produce a draped background effect. Raphael and Caravaggio inspired the monochrome and drapery of the background, the sanctified poses and the adornments. These historical references represent the creation of a scenario in which non-normative bodies are inserted into a normative environment.
