THE SARDINE PHOTO EXPERIENCE is a collective documentary photographic project, promoted by the Photographic Encounters of Lagoa (Algarve, Portugal) and coordinated by Nuno de Santos Loureiro.

 

It is also a multifaceted tribute to the sardine (Sardina pilchardus), a fish that is inseparable from Algarve’s history, and the present of the region with its inhabitants. The fishing work, the trawlers (and other boats) and the fishermen, the canning industry with its products (and the factory architecture), the grilled sardines (and the salt, the coal and the party) are essential traits of Algarve. As are the faith and religious manifestations of these maritime people...

 

The photographic project was structured, established several themes, and invited several photographers to register these as authored work. José Carlos Carvalho, Luís Torres, Filipe da Palma, Sónia Corvo, Vitor Pina, Bruno Filipe Pires and Nuno de Santos Loureiro, among others, captured the images and created brief sequences which show and perpetuate the way in which observed, felt and registered a very special ‘universe’.

 

THE SARDINE PHOTO EXPERIENCE is now being converted in photographic exhibitions and photobooks. And it will, surely, create opportunities for others, those who wish to experiment and register those facets that are part of the region’s identity. There is, in reality, still so much to discover, to photograph, to show and to publish...

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The themes, exhibitions, and books are organised as below:

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1. FISHING WORK

2. ALGARVE'S MARITIME RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS

2.1. THE PROCESSION IN HONOR OF OUR LADY OF THE SAILORS, AT CULATRA ISLAND

3. C3: TO COOK, TO CONSERVE, TO CONSUME

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More information about the exhibitions, the photobooks, the photographic experiences and other activities HERE.