The Rui Cunha Foundation (FRC) and Macau-based Portuguese photojournalist Gonćalo Lobo Pinheiro will present the second and final volume of the project “O Que Foi, Não Volta A Ser” (Portuguese for “What Once Was, Will Never Be Again”) at the FRC Gallery on Tuesday, with a book launch and an exhibition of 20 photographs scheduled to kick off at 6:30 pm that day.
“The second volume of this book continues to be an encounter between the past and the present. As I have said before, the idea is not a pioneering one in the world, but it turns out to be in Macau — and that is where the enthusiasm began. Just like in the first book, over the course of a little more than a year, I collected old images of the territory, in black and white or sepia, in different formats,” said Pinheiro, who has called Macau home for over 15 years now.
“I acquired them through auctions, online, from private owners, in shops, and even in Portugal. Some images were also loaned to me,” he added. “Macau has changed a lot in recent years. The old photographs show this clearly.”
The project – both the book and exhibition – shows Macau as a “city of encounters, of cultural blending, and of coexistence between worlds that intertwine”, Portuguese writer and professor Henrique Levy has pointed out in a foreword for the book, which has been designed by Carlos Canhita and published by Ipsis Verbis, featuring 40 photographs across nearly 80 pages.
In Macau, according to Levy, Portuguese heritage coexists with Chinese tradition and multiple Asian influences.
“The territory, shaped more by its people than by its architecture, becomes a stage for human gestures, a frame for daily stories, a silent witness to the interactions that define the city,” the writer’s foreword reads.
“Churches, ancient temples, stone arches, and squares reveal themselves as poetic arenas where the human dimension shines in its ethical and aesthetic form.”
The book costs MOP 250 each and can be purchased at selected bookstores in Macau or online through the author’s website at www.goncalolobopinheiro.com.
The publication is sponsored by Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) and FRC.
The exhibition will run through 10 January. Admission is free. For more information visit FRC’s website.
Source and Image: FRC
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