SOUVENIRS FROM HOME
BY MIGUEL SANTOS
PT | EN
February 2020.
I moved to Italy to attend an internship at a design studio. 4 weeks in, the country goes into lockdown.
Exploring trips I had planned on taking around the country now come down to the odd trip to the kitchen, bathroom, and on unexpectedly rare and magical occasions—to venture out to the supermarket. Sightseeing has been redirected to a very specific enclosed area, unveiling new ways to perceive it. Trivialities of the outside world are on standby; new ones are found indoors, as a possible escape from the cataclysm looming over us.
I find myself taking notice of subtle changes in uneventful spaces. Light falls on everyday objects and its surroundings, unveiling parallels between the public and private domains. Domestic scenes look almost carefully orchestrated, where object becomes subject (to the changes in light). Outside, the neighbouring axis is repurposed—buildings’ shadows, with moving sharp angles, are now indicators of the time of the day (a bit like the sundials in the façades of the piazzi I visited before shit hit the fan).
I become more in sync with the physical changes around me. In the absence of outside stimuli, I learn to find them in the immediate space around me. Time leaves its mark on the mundane and ephemeral—food rots, water dries. A form of time regulation denoting a journey through the everyday. The human factor is replaced with the inanimate, yet these images tell a story of warmth, and make quarantine a nice and desirable destination.
These images are souvenirs of a trip I did not intend on taking, in which destination became the same as the point of departure.
Bio
Miguel Santos holds a degree in Communication Design from Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto. (2019) Participated in an exchange student programme at Willem de Kooning Academie (Rotterdam). He has an FdA in Interior Design from the London College of Communication (2009- 2011). Has interned at the faculty’s museum. Collaborated on a freelance level with creative and marketing studio Grow Creativity (Porto), in the design and production department. At the moment, he is interning at Studio Blanco in Italy, where he is involved in both commercial and cultural projects.