An exhibition that brings together a selection of new works by photographer António Júlio Duarte, most of which were created during the pandemic, will open today at the Serralves Museum, in Porto.
The exhibition is titled "Febre" and was specifically designed for the museum's Contemporary Gallery, presenting 50 photographs of identical formats, and, in the Casa de Serralves Chapel, a large-format fabric print of the work "Queimado" (2017) .
The exhibition, with a concept by António Júlio Duarte and Paula Fernandes, is part of the Contemporary Projects program, developed with the aim of showcasing new artists and art forms, according to the entity.
During the pandemic, unable to travel like the vast majority of the population, António Júlio Duarte captured images that show "a rhythmic and convulsive sequence of banal scenes from everyday life with no narrative or apparent connection", describes a text from the museum about the new exhibition.
The works were carried out between 2019 and 2022, and in them the artist exchanges his chosen territory - the streets of the cities in the countries he visits - for the rooms of the house where he lives or for the outside, immediately close and visible.
From this period there was "an almost diaristic and intimate record of his practice" that is exhibited for the first time, also marking the first exhibition, in this museum, of the photographer born in Lisbon, in 1965.
António Júlio Duarte studied photography at AR.CO (Center for Art & Visual Communication), in the capital, and received a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation at the Royal College of Art (1991), in London, United Kingdom.
As for the installation of the screen, "it takes advantage of the intimate space of the Chapel and the duplicity constituted by the transparency of the fabric", adds the press release.
António Júlio Duarte's artistic production gained consistency and depth from the 1990s, a decade in which he began a tour around the world, creating a large number of images, initially in black and white, and later in color.
"His camera makes us aware of fragments of realities, both distant and close: photography has a universal, recognizable character, and knows no borders [...] it acquires an anthropological dimension and its author stands out and remains in the center of the image", the text also states, describing António Júlio Duarte's work as "subtle but also sharp and assertive", in images of "a primordial and primitive depth".
The "Febre" exhibition will be on view until November 12th in the museum's contemporary gallery and in the Casa de Serralves chapel, in Porto.