In a time of economic crisis, camping is now and increasingly the preferred choice for a vacations’ getaway for many Portuguese. Although money is short, comfort is never to give up on. That is why we see tents fully equipped resembling tiny transportable houses – beds, laptops, TV sets, domestic appliances, and machines are plentiful all around. With camping sites normally well located, many times near the beach, it is not uncommon to hear campers saying that they feel much better and comfy here than in a 5 star hotel. APS

When it is not coming in uninvited through your front door, it is through the television that the most severe economical crisis in the Portuguese democracy invades Portuguese people’s homes. Between the daily news, the big stories and multiple commentators’ analysis, news blocs are dominated by it. In television, as in newspapers, people face scenarios which two years ago were pure and simple taboos: Greece’s exit of the euro or the implosion of the eurozone itself. An all time new vocabulary comes in with words such as “Eurobonds” or “spreads”. Just as those reality-reflecting ads. Live and colors, always. APS

There are always two sides for the same story. In the city of Amadora, outskirts of Lisbon, there’s the city hall, the neighbors of a clandestine hood and, in between, the announced end for a territory of 250 shags still to demolish. It’s always the same uncertainty, in each and every one of the unannounced demolishing mornings: at which of the doors will they be knocking today? Will my house be shred to the pieces? The place looks just like a unfinished warzone. There are opened to the gut houses, the inside exposed to everyone’s eyes, doors knocked down, and rubbish all over the place. The city hall has one mission and there is no stopping until it’s done: it has to terminate the clandestine neighborhood of Santa Filomena. From 1998 to September 2012, 180 families left the place. Not all got relocated. APS

All over the world there is a ship built in the shipyards of Viana do Castelo. From the Faroe Islands to the United States, about 220 boats have the logo of the largest Portuguese shipbuilding company. In business since 1944, the yards are a reference of the shipbuilding industry in such diverse works as “ferry boats”, cruise and fishing ships, container ships and tugboats. In January 2014, the Portuguese government privatized the company by signing a concession agreement with West Sea, a company that has at its service 130 workers, mostly former employees of the shipyards of Viana do Castelo. July, 2007. APS

Created in 2012 in the US as an event to promote health and happiness, Color Run exists already in more than 30 countries and 170 cities. In Cascais, on May 17, 14 thousand participants painted with colour, joy and enthusiasm the coastal avenue. Starting in groups of approximately a thousand people, everything is allowed: run, walk, crawl or even to compete in a wheelchair. In every kilometer of the route there is a color thrown at all. And as if it were Carnival, nobody takes this the wrong way. Parede, Cascais, May 2014. APS

Alexandre Albernaz is one of several Paralympic athletes who, day after day, struggles with the limitations of a life already bound and made more difficult in the absence of the due financial support by the state. With paraplegia since he was six, in 2016 Alexandre fulfilled his dream of participating in the Olympics in Brazil even though he didn’t get to compete. His daily routine stretches from his house to the swimming pool where he practices everyday even if it takes two busses to make the 10 km. “In the water, that’s where I feel good, there we’re all the same.”

The world is closed at home afraid of the new coronavirus. And so is Andreia, with a small difference: she is used to face what she cannot see. She was born with maculopathy and her sight is severely reduced to 5%, and yet she travels the world every day because of her three-year-old son. Andreia Varela is 27 and got pregnant from a dating partner at 24. She always wanted ‘to be a mother and have a home‘, and so, despite the worry, she grabbed her fate with both hands. People on the street stop and look astonished at this young girl-like woman making way with the cane and the child in her arms. “They make a lot of comments, but many could never do what I do.”

Cigarettes fly by in the hands of Joaquim and Guilherme Rodrigues. Nothing has changed since their grandparents bought the space more than a century ago. The tools are the same and the walls don’t know what new paint is for four generations in a row. The spider webs decorating the window frames signal that tradition is something of a sacred word inside these four walls. The radio is always on. Here, four generations have listened to the news and followed the changes in our country and far beyond. Elected presidents, governments’ demise, and football matches. 

Only a few miles away, at Sobradelo da Goma, Américo Fernandes puts on a pair of dark gloves and places a gold bar in the pulleys. He pulls the metal from the other end until it’s stretched into a meters- long wire. The process is repeated and halted when the desired thickness is achieved. “That’s how everything starts”, says Américo with a palpable long passion for the art craft.

António Cardoso is among the most respected craftsmen in the Gondomar council. In the house’s backyard, he keeps on crafting true pieces of art, fully hand-made using the techniques learnt from his father. His work gained world fame some years ago when north-American actress Sharon Stone wore a ‘Viana heart’ in a public event in Los Angeles. It didn’t take long to track down the author.  Demands followed suit as well as his prestige.

Every year by mid-August, all paths lead to Viana do Castelo’s festivities in honour of Our Lady of Agony. Along with the procession, the parades of pageants wearing traditional outfits have become major attractions. For more than 230 years, women walk down the streets wearing golden pieces displaying absolute fortunes in their chests. From one generation to the next, these pieces are often inherited and passed through inside traditional families. Bended over their wooden tables and surrounded by machines, tweezers, and blowtorches, the craftsmen keep on turning the delicate metal wires into these highly symbolic pieces of art.

In spite of the crisis felt in the sector as well as the shut-down of many workshops over the last years, tradition is still what it used to be. Smoking their cigarettes and chatting about the news with the radio sound in the background, Joaquim and Guilherme will carry on crafting the filigree with the same delicate precision. Américo Fernandes will evolve even further in the art craft for which he fell in love since he was a child. António Cardoso will always have that picture that changed his life hanged against the wall just beside him. Liliana Guerreiro will continue to re-interpret the filigree threads. Joana Vasconcelos will keep on surprising the world with her works. Tradition’s well alive and kicking.

António Pedro Santos
Abril 2016

Acknowledgments
This work was only possible due to the kindness and pure friendship
of the many people who I had the honour and pleasure to meet over
the last year:
Ana Silva, Américo Fernandes, António Vau, Joaquim Rodrigues, José Martins, Guilherme Rodrigues, Manuel Freitas, Liliana Guerreiro, António Cardoso, Rosa Cardoso, Laurinda Figueiras, Aida Antunes, Arménio Belo, Elsa Rodrigues, Joana Vasconcelos, Isabel Morais, António Castro, José Manuel Castro, Andreia Torres, Cristiano Araújo, Manuel Alves, Leonardo Araújo, Rosa Antunes, Aurora Rocha, Catarina Viana, Miguel Matos, Manuel Vilar and Sónia Cunha.

To all of them, as well as to those who anonymously participated in the project, I offer my most sincere acknowledgments for your engagement and dedication.