In What Would You Do If I Died Today?, produced within the scope of the Master’s in Graphic Design and Editorial Projects, Gonçalo Estevão explores the intersection between cinema, artistic identity, and queer representation. The project focuses on the importance of LGBTIQ+ visibility in cinema, examining how this influences narratives and character development. His images reveal the construction of small narratives that, through the work of Xavier Dolan, explore the fluctuations in the lives of queer individuals. By combining Dolan’s fictional stories with real-life experiences, the project seeks to give visibility to underrepresented LGBTIQ+ voices, celebrating the complexity of their identities while challenging stereotypes and promoting a deeper understanding of their lives. The title, inspired by a quote from Dolan’s film I Killed My Mother (2009), is suggested as a metaphor for these characters’ vulnerable and marginalised condition.
Inês Leal presents the project Periódica, produced following her undergraduate degree in Communication Design, where she uses the archive as a tool for visual research. Focusing on the mining activity of the Pejão Mines, located in the Douro Coal Basin, she uses editing and montage of photographs from O Pejão, a publication produced by the Douro Coal Company. In this context, the archive is reconfigured to show the sociopolitical and identity-re- lated impacts of mining on a community marked by tradition and abandonment. The recombination of archival images challenges the usual imagery associated with this activity, creating analogies and visual relationships that encourage critical reflection on the historical and cultural heritage of the region. The project transcends mere documentation, establishing a dialogue between the past and the present.
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Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto