The exhibition “Amigos (Im)Perfeitos”, by photographer Carlos Filipe, is on show at EMARP until 7 August. The exhibition, which opened yesterday, and which exhibits portraits of pets with physical disabilities, can be visited on weekdays between 8:30 am and 17:30 pm.
Carlos Filipe is a native of Aljustrel. He graduated in Portuguese and English and moved to the Algarve in 2005. He started photographing in 2009 out of curiosity, focusing his work on self-portraits and fascination with conceptual photography.
In 2019, he launched his first book “Amigos (im)Perfeitos” with photographs and texts of his own.
That same year, he opened his photographic studio in Lagoa where, in addition to offering all his photographic services, he receives abandoned animals from all over the country he photographs to help with their adoption.
The project's story is born after the photographer adopted Boris, a dog «two months old, collected on the side of a road with a bitten rope tied around his neck».
Boris «has dawned a new passion in the art of photography: animal photography. At a time when ideas and concepts seemed to get lost on paper, at a time when the lens was pointed at random looking for innovation, Boris became an inspiration and an incredible model».
The search for new models led the photographer to contact Animal Defense Associations in order to be able to actively contribute to their work and help them raise funds. This gave rise to the idea of carrying out a photo session whose profits would revert entirely to the association.
It was during «this adventure that the photographer met very special models, with chilling pasts but who were able to mark the life of those who chose to give them a worthy present and future, despite their limitations».
The project materializes «in portraits of unique animals» that became a photographic exhibition.
«All the animals I have known have faced amputations, blindness, paralysis, traumas caused by human evil… but they all found someone who embraced and loves them without being frightened by their differences. This is an ever-growing project because all the stories of struggle, courage and survival deserve a narrator and the public deserves to know these imperfect Friends», explains the photographer.
Each portrait of these "more than perfect friends" is accompanied by a letter that tells a little of their story. The exhibition also offers an interactive component to visitors, since, with their mobile phone, they can digitize the code in each photograph to watch the video about each one of those portrayed.
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