A story here to stay - special edition

Softcover
64 Pp., Leaflet 8 Pp. 304 X 240 Mm

Photographs By Nelson Miranda
Texts By António Pinto Ribeiro And Vera Carmo
Self Published, 2021 (With The Support Of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation)

Limited Edition Of 200, Signed And Numbered

“'A Story Here To Stay' Is A Photographic And Research Project Carried Out On The Foundation Home For Portuguese Emigrants In The World, A Small Satellite City Built In The 1980’s On A Forested Area In The North Of Portugal. The Institution, Planned And Partially Constructed By An Emigrant Returned From Venezuela, Was Intended To Welcome Others Who, Like Him, Had Returned To Portugal. However, Due To The Megalomania Of The Private Initiative The Enterprise Failed.

The Place Is Abandoned And There Are The Usual Traces Of Vandalism, But Also Evidence Of Use By Extreme Right Groups. The Book Brings Together Photographs Taken Over The Last Few Years, Documents Found At The Site And Stills From The Documentary “Portuguese House, House Of Foreign Influences: The Dream Of The Emigrant” (RTP1, 1988).

The Iconographic Dialogue, Which Develops, Prompts A Reflection On The Permeability Of The Concept Of Utopia, And Ends With An Irony That Seems To Exemplify The Scale Of The Social Crises, Which Are Being Faced In Many Countries And Which Particularly Jeopardize The Integrity Of The European Union And Its Assumptions.”

Vera Carmo

“Nelson Miranda Expresses Himself In Fragments. Each Time, We Are Transported To Places Whose Coherence, At First, Escapes Us (Fundação Lar Do Emigrante Português No Mundo. 2016-2020).

The Uniqueness Of The Discourse Has To Be Found In The Joining Together Of Fragments Of Images, In The Balancing Of Dispersion And Cohesion. The Eye/Camera Moves From Image To Image, And It Is Up To The Spectator To Connect, Through Successive Intervals, The Logic Of The Narrative.

The Frame Of The Photograph Is A Crime Scene, In Which We Are Witnesses, Called Upon Not To Move Away. This Is Why All Of Nelson Miranda’s Spaces Are The Image Of A Theatre Of Dramatic Events, Of Small Ends Of The World, An Autopsy Of A Final Crisis.”

François Cheval