If nobody is here... nobody is coming here - Alijó
Collecting "Living Archives" of the photo house Foto Morais collection | ViViFICAR Project
By Museu do Douro
Foto Morais Collection
Living Archives | ViViFICAR Project
This project of visual archives was based on the photographs of Foto Morais. The images document representations of the common , where people and spaces constitute a record of living memories of the territory of Alijo, between the 1970s and the beginning of the 21st century.
Foto Morais was founded by Antonio Morais on 2nd January 1974. Born in Favaios, he learned the art of photography at Foto Martins, in Mirandela, where his father worked. His master taught him the art of photography and unveiling, still using manual processes. One of the jobs he most enjoyed doing was retouching the images with pencil and ink. With digital photography he has much less work. He says that with digital photography "any day there is no memory. In the paper we have the guarantee that we see".
SPACES
The transformation of the territory witnessed in the images reveals the passage of time. Between disappearance and adaptation, these photographs record the mutation of the space inhabited during the last decades of the 20th century.
PEOPLE
People's experiences are fundamental for understanding the space and how it is constructed. They are the territory's most vivid memory.
EXPERIENCING the space
Moments of recreation
Favaios Theatre
The theatre of Favaios presents the configuration of the small provincial theatres, with a large auditorium and a wooden balcony. As a convivial space par excellence, it brought the population together around school plays or more elaborate stagings.
Our Lady of Cunha
An emblematic celebration of the town, which gathers annually near the sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Cunha, in a great feast for all the families.
Popular Religiosity
Religious procession, Favaios
Solemn moments, but also moments of celebration, attended by the whole community, from the youngest to the oldest. Generations come together to thank the saints of their devotion.
Procession of Penance, Castedo
Medieval procession, symbolising the moment of the Passion when Christ meets his mother. The penitents are wrapped in white linen and have a crown of ivy on their heads. The penitent who leads the procession carries a cup of wine and another of water and walks backwards.
Philanthropy in the community
Firefighters, Pinhão
The acquisition of a new vehicle and its blessing is a reason for celebration and parade through the streets of Pinhao, ending with a conviviality by the river.
Offertory procession, Pyramid Feast
A moment of community unity in helping the underprivileged. This procession, which included a music band, represented the delivery of donations from each parish.
Timor-Leste's Vigil, Alijo
Like the whole world, the community of Alijo also showed solidarity with the struggle for self-determination of the Timorese people.
The vigil brought together several generations in a common cause.
Politics and the community
Political expressions
There are various records of post-April demonstrations, bringing together the various parishes and their demands for freedom and democracy. The first political campaigns or the commemorations of the 1st of May stand out.
Photograph: Antonio Morais, Foto Morais - Alijo
Research: Natalia Fauvrelle e Susana Marques (Museu do Douro)
Texts/translation: Natalia Fauvrelle (Museu do Douro/CITCEM)
Inventory/translation : Maria Joao Centenario (Museu do Douro)
Image processing: Susana Marques (Museu do Douro)
