PLANTALTO BARROSÃO
BY SÉRGIO ROLANDO
Sérgio Rolando studied in IPF, holds a degree in Audiovisual Communication and a Master degree in Documental Photography and Cinema by Polytechnic Institute of Porto, ESMAE in Portugal. He is currently working as a freelance photographer and Documentary Photography lecturer in Polytechnic Institute of Porto, ESMAE.
He exhibits on a regular basis and has a great deal of published work. Is much focused on our territories and how they are transformed and appropriated. Between document and fiction, the work of this author gives us a mapping of contemporary life governed by technology, political and economic forces, and how territories are transformed and appropriated by man.
Sérgio Rolando’s “Planalto Barrosão” puts into question the traditional idea of the protected rural landscape of the Barrosão Plateau, while this territory emerges as a cultural (un)built space, permeated by a set of conflicting transformations. The conflict between identity, heritage and protected rural landscape is a challenge that Sérgio presents through images that reveal various infrastructures that tear the landscape apart, and many built elements – unfinished buildings and other architectures – representative of our concrete-made economy and our culture of blindly importing models. Sérgio also adopts an artistic strategy that draws attention to the conflicts of nature and the destruction/transformation of the environment by man, choosing viewpoints and patterns that reinforce the visual and abstract qualities of these landscapes.
Pedro Leão
Maria Neto