Photography

 

 

Behind the curtain

 

As we sit in the theater chairs, with our eyes on the stage, we wait, curiously, for the start of the show. At one point I felt that my curiosity preceded that moment. It was this desire to discover that led me, from January 2019, to photograph the preparation and rehearsals from the first day until the moment of its debut.

 

This photographic record captures the preparation of the artistic project – “Cuecas em 8” – created by the artistic director Ana Mula, revealing all the work that precedes its arrival on stage. It translates into a series of photographs that uncover different moments of this preparation, showing the public the invisible part of the creative process. Over more than two years, there were many hours of rehearsals, in different places, with advances and setbacks, with ideas that succeeded and others that were discarded.

 

The photographs were taken spontaneously, without posing, without interference during the rehearsals, capturing the authenticity of each moment, the dialogues and the movements. I witnessed the commitment, difficulties, enthusiasm, availability and resilience of the team that is part of this project that addresses the daily lives of foreign women in the process of integration in Portugal.

 

By following the preparation of this project for so long, I was also able to see the difficulties felt by those who are dedicated to the area of ​​culture and the arts, the precariousness and voluntarism of those who work to, one day, take the stage.

 

A special thanks to all the people who were part of the project "C_M_8" for letting me into their world, for the trust and freedom they gave me to do this work:

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Ana Mula
Catarina Marcos

Clara Alvim
Darya Efrat

Francesca Perrucci

Letícia Moro
Janne Schröder

Sara Montalvão

Thamiris Carvalho