António Barrocas

I live in Lisbon, Portugal. I have a Bachelor Degree in History, a Master Degree in Fine Arts (Theory of Arts - Photography) and a PhD about body representation in portuguese photography (Faculdade de Belas Artes de Lisboa).
My work as a photographer is in relation with my studies in art and photography theory.

My photographic work is about body representation in the tradition of pictorial arts and photographic art and of issues of women representation.
The essential lines of my work can be divided into two distinct but complementary fields. One has to do with the process of shooting the photo which I consider a moment of performance, of discovery and of establishing a relationship with the other. The second one has to do with the production of the final image. In this process I seek to re-use interpret classical poses of major 'Art' and transform them. I seek the representation of a 'real' body - in the tradition of Mapplethorpe, Edward Weston, Sally Mann and others - where one can feel the skin, the sweat and the blood. This body is closely linked to the erotic image as a public image of meanings and it is far from the mainstream image of 'clean Photoshop bodies'. In the image there is always a woman. We are in the ''ritrarre" field and not the 'imitare' one. The option for natural light and for the use of the film fall into this process. I sometimes use developed old glass plates that I mix with my negative in a project entitled Blood Silver Salts. Thus, the picture not only emerges as a support of the gaze but it also stands as a questioning text able to intervene in everyday life. That’s the type of meaningful duplicity I am interested in.
Another project focuses on the use of old photographic cameras exploring the characteristics of images produced by their lenses, framing and speeds. this type of cameras are used in street photography, landscape and architectural photography.