This essay examines three photographic projects that reflect diverse approaches to territory, identity, and memory. In Da Pedra ao Osso, João Ramilo explores the ontological meaning of place through his home village of Louriceira, addressing themes of disappearance, change, and nostalgia in the rural world. José Miguel Ribeiro’s Na Cratera do Vulcão, grounded in Paulo Valverde’s ethnographic notes on São Tomé and Príncipe, engages with the coexistence of the living and the dead, using photography to probe the spectral boundaries between visibility and invisibility, material and immaterial. Finally, Luísa Fernandes’ Para Além da Forma challenges stereotypical and sexualised representations of the LGBTIQ+ community, creating a space for self-expression and recognition. Together, these projects highlight the vitality of contemporary photographic practice as reflection and critique of society’s turbulence.
School of Arts of the Portuguese Catholic University