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2 100 meters Confinements, Renato Roque

Just a short presentation of my project and myself

In 2011 Portugal was forced to accept a so-called austerity program imposed by EU and by IMF. This situation was the result of neo-liberal financial policies and the incapability of EU to face financial blackmail and threats as a block.

This austerity program supported and even increased by conservative Portuguese government caused deep economic and social crisis in Portugal, with large poverty, caused by cuts in wages and unemployment, reaching nearly 20%, and increased social differences and injustices.

One of the phenomena which could be observed all over cities in Portugal was de proliferation of shops buying objects in gold: the gold shops.

In 2012 and 2013 I developed a photographic project which I called “Gold Shops – 100 Meters From Home”. In this project I photographed several gold shops which were opened at no more than circa 100 meters from my home.
Today, as a result of COVID 19 epidemic crisis, I am forced to confinement at home and I am given the possibility of short walks outside, admissible if not exceeding about 100 meters from home.

My actual project would be about these two different forced confinements, caused by financial aggressive and criminal policies and by an high infectious virus, using some of the photos I did in 2012 of Gold Shops, and which were never published, and some photos I’ll do now at no more than 100 meters from home. I would call it “2 100 meters Confinements”

Gold Shop 100 Meters from Home
Matosinhos, 2013
6 Comments
  1. Liza Ordinartceva

    Dear Renato, welcome and thank you for sharing such a socially profound project! Looking forward to learning more.

    Aknowledging all the differencies, I see a lot in common between Portugal and Russia.

    shops

    This is a photo I made near my home (St. Petersburg, Russia, north outskirts of the city) 5 years ago and 4 out of he 5 signs you see are microfinancing organizations that give loans to economically uneducated people who then get to pay them back about 10 times more. A few years ago they were agressively advertised outdoors and many got their victims (sometimes just because their passport or even passport info was stolen and used for registering a loan). Now it is a bit more controlled but still exists. The 5th sign on the photo is a pawn shop.

    1. Selfportrait
      Renato Roque

      Thanks Liza for your comment. I have been away from this platform for a long time, for professional reasons and because I am being unable to post the way I would like to, and now, when I am answering to you, hard confinement is over, Shops are open, but many without clients, and I beleve the results will be quite bad for all of us

      Renato

  2. Avatar photo
    Eliane Velozo

    Renato Roque is a great photographer and person. I love his work.
    I am happy he is here with us.

    1. Selfportrait
      Renato Roque

      Um beijo, Eliane, sempre!

  3. Avatar photo
    Anastasia Patsey

    Dear Renato,
    Thank you for joining us and welcome to the SPAR virtual studio. The mobility restrictions in Russia are the same right now: 100 meters from home. At the first sight I couldn’t understand any of the text on the sign, but I really liked the graphics and colours in the photograph. It looks very alien, almost like a sticker on the image.
    Looking forward to seeing more of your works!

    Best,
    Anastasia

    1. Selfportrait
      Renato Roque

      Thanks Anastasia for your comment. I have been away from this platform for a long time, for professional reasons and because I am being unable to post the way I would like to, and now, when I am answering to you, hard confinement is over, but I beleve the results will be quite bad for all of us

      Renato

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