Tito Mouraz‘s photographs from ‘Rua da Cabine’ came to mind today because I got an email off him announcing the publication of his new book ‘Casa das Sete Senhoras’. The book came out of a series of pictures I first published on mutantspace in 2014 and it was my first introduction to this wonderful Portuguese photographer. An artist who elevates his medium into an artistic form that explores the magical beneath the ordinary, that breathes life into the soil of his forefathers and the history of the landscape upon which he walks.
‘Rua da Cabine’ takes us into Mouraz’s past, into the innocent times he spent with his grandparents; their house, shop, farm. And while they are beautiful pictures it’s his ability to capture the commonality of this time that makes them special, a moment that belongs to all of us, that we all recognise: meeting the cousins, Sunday lunches with the family, playing ball, going on walks, watching the football, listening in on grownup conversations.
It’s this recognition of the smallest of things that gives such rich and deep resonance to Mouraz’s photographs. They bring us all back. Remind us that our story is made up of the immaterial, of our connections and relationships rather than the things we possess. And for that I am grateful to him. Here’s what he has to say about his project:
Lead by an interior motivation and by means of an intimate narrative, I felt the urge to interpret this duality of strong emotions and thereby create a series of images which, besides visually exploring the concept of identity could also establish a connection between Yesterday and Today.
Could there be any better word to describe this relation than Life?
The selection of photographs which shape this volume result also from both the presence and the absence of my grandfather.
To live and to perpetuate his memory has become my privilege now.
My grandfather’s name was Fernando Ramos.I lost him in January 2013, already in the course of this work.
