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Uma andorinha só não faz o verão

This work was presented in the exhibition Portais do Tempo, curated by Pauline Foessel and the Lisbon based gallery Underdogs. The exhibition proposed to re-think about the carnation revolution in Portugal, by establishing a dialogue between photographs selected by Alfredo Cunha (one of the most important photographs of the revolution) and seven artists.

 

Márcio Carvalho reinterpreted a photograph by Alfredo Cunha depicting soldiers looking relaxed, in contrast to their uniforms and weapons. The artist used the image’s rhythm and composition but replaced its protagonists. He offers the viewer other faces of this revolution and other faces without faces, without uniforms. He also decided to insert and redraw another image by Alfredo Cunha, depicting the Padrão dos Descobrimentos [Monument to the Discoveries], for what it represents in its literal sense but also as an allegory of the “retornados” (returnees fleeing from the decolonised overseas territories). Through his composition, Márcio Carvalho wishes to draw our attention to two myths that exist in popular memory. The first is that the 25th of April Revolution was a revolution without violence, without deaths. The second is that the revolution was exclusively carried out by Portuguese people.

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