«Ability to inspire». This is, according to the employees of the Portimão Museum, one of the main qualities of José Gameiro, founder and current scientific director of that award-winning museum structure in the Algarve.
On Tuesday night, José Gameiro was honored at a dinner at the Praia da Rocha Rotary Club, which considered him the «Professional of the Year». In the room, completely full, were present and former mayors of Portimão, many members of the Group of Friends of the Museum of Portimão (GAMP), other friends and relatives of the honoree, but also a large group of employees from the most diverse sections of the museum, who he insisted on being present and paying his “tribute”.
«Professor José Gameiro, never stop dreaming!», urged Ana Margarida, the employee who read, on behalf of her own and colleagues, a small text of tribute.
Margarida Tengarrinha, leader and founder of GAMP, but above all a friend of the honoree, also pointed out that, in her contacts with former canning workers, they «never say the Museum, they say “our Museum”». A museum truly linked to the community where it emerged and from which it was born, a characteristic that has already guaranteed it international awards, but also the affection of the people of Portimo.
Because, as João Alves, president of the Praia da Rocha Rotary, pointed out, the Museum of Portimão is a true «life project» by José Gameiro, who, after retiring from the functions of its first director, maintained the umbilical connection to the his museum as scientific director.
Thanks to the prestige achieved by the Portimonian museum structure, José Gameiro was eventually invited to be the president of the European Museum of the Year international jury, even being the first Portuguese to assume such a position.
By the way, showing the good image that the Portimão Museum enjoys, the EMF-European Museum Forum chose this venue for its first working meeting in 2018, next Saturday, February 23rd.
José Gameiro, in his brief speech, recalled that all this resulted, in essence, from two decisions he made in his life: the first was his training at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts, which would give him the possibility of becoming a teacher of Visual Arts, returning to Portimão to teach there, but also endowed him «with a more aesthetic and simultaneously more critical vision, strengthened my perception of the areas of cultural heritage» and motivated him «to the importance of gestures and creative attitudes socially useful and transformative'.
The second decision was that, in the early 80s, he became a member of a local association, called Grupo de Amigos de Portimão, where he met «inspiring people», such as «the architect Vicente Castro and the modernist quality of his architectural thinking and urbanist”, his colleague professor Jaime Palhinha, “enthusiast of our historical and archaeological heritage”, João Tavares, “great bibliophile of Portimão and owner of a huge collection of postcards from all over the Algarve”, and Júlio Bernardo, who , «through his photographic gaze», «has allowed him to re-encounter the identity of the people of this sea and this land».
In the late 70s and 80s, he recalled, «something very disturbing, from the point of view of our collective history, was happening in Portimão, with the closing of the last canneries, allied to the imminent risk of disappearance of an entire industrial, social and cultural heritage and documentation", to which was added "the impressive underwater treasure that, from the bottom of the River Arade, as a result of the ongoing dredging, "filled our beaches, with associated centuries of history to the thousands of pieces and coins thrown by the pipes of the dredgers».
And that was how, 35 years ago, in 1983, Gameiro approached the then mayor Martim Gracias, who, faced with his concerns, turned to the then professor and told him: «Hey man, so you're in charge of finding a Museum Installation Committee». And so a dream emerged, which only 10 years ago, in 2008, became a reality in the current Museum, but which led to decades of much previous work, museological, collection and conservation.
What started as a personal project became «the result of the work of a whole team», creating an idea of a museum that is not «a mere set of objects on display, but rather a dynamic meeting point with our identity and culture, an attentive observatory of our society and a laboratory of ideas and projects».
«This Museum was formed from the voluntary and disinterested spirit of truly “Friends of Portimão” citizens and, today as 35 years ago, it is in the continuity and maintenance of this community involvement, with the museum's friends and all citizens, that lies its greater capacity to assert itself as a museum and as our great story factory», concluded José Gameiro.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação
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