A Conversation about a Series of (Un)Fortunate Events
A Conversation about a Series of (Un)Fortunate Events
[TIL #35] an interview with street photographer Gil Ribeiro
As previously with the presentation of Arthur’s zine Me and the Sea, i have enjoyed interviewing a photographer who is often found wandering in the streets of Lisbon. The focus this time is on the preparation of an exhibition that opens soon.
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Gil Ribeiro is a Portuguese street photographer with a background in cinematography. Beyond the humorous tone of some of his images, his work possesses a distinctive atmosphere that led the French magazine 6 Mois to title a selection ‘the mysteries of Lisbon’ (2022 summer issue). The zine published by Bump Books, a prized item in my small collection, presents a very nice collection (it is sold out but you can see some images on the website of the publisher). I’m thrilled that he kindly allowed me to include a few photographs to accompany our conversation.
The day we met for the interview, i was running a few minutes late. As i waited at the traffic light, i spotted Gil on the other side of the avenue: in the warm light of the end of the afternoon, camera in hand, he was looking for reflections in the large tinted windows of a tall modern edifice on the praça Marquês de Pombal…
Q. By contrast with others who adapt their approach to the specificities of each project, i would describe you as a photographer with a recognisable style. What is it that you’re looking for when you’re making images in the streets?
In Lisbon or anywhere else, my goal is the same. It's the same process: trying to find unique moments, special moments. That is what I like. I have this need to have people in the picture, because that makes it impossible to replicate. You can take a beautiful photo of a place, with the right light, with bright colors, but if there's a person, they bring an organic element, a storytelling component, and they give the image that stamp of, like, no one else is ever going to take this image. That’s the holy grail for me.
There are photos that I take and if I show them to someone who knows my work they might not recognize it as mine. I get attracted by lots of different things on the street, it's automatic: colors that draw my eye, like this lady here with a green dress [he points at a woman passing by] — green, yellow, red, blue…
I like having a clean background in the sense of the structure of the image, making sure that there's not too much clutter. And then, connections or juxtapositions between elements: sometimes, you see something, you have an idea of what can happen, you think that you can play with it and rearrange it to create something absurd or humorous… and then you wait for it.
I never spend more than 15 minutes in one place, then I leave. I’m not patient, I guess I’m a lucky person, always have been.
Q. You’re a fan of Harry Gruyaert, i think. What is it that you find inspirational in his work?
I don’t really have one or one or two specific photographers that I turn to as my main inspiration anymore, there are many and that also changes with time, but he is definitely one of the top photographers that I like. The colors are incredible, colors and light, and really strong atmosphere as well. I also did my first trip to Morocco a little bit because of Gruyaert: I was thinking, if this is going to look like that, it is worth going.
Q. You have an exhibition that is opening soon, titled ‘a series of unfortunate events’. What will you be showing — what is the pitch?
The title speaks of nothing else than the decisive moment, right, it’s all about being at the right place at the right time, with the things happening in front of the camera also arranged in the right way in the frame. The majority of my photos are special moments, unique moments that happened at a certain place at a certain time. In the exhibition, there is a total of 55 images from six different countries, most of them from Lisbon. We found a title that worked well to bring all the images together.
With the people helping me, I have found sponsors and that has allowed me to print on my favourite paper (Hahnemühle Fine Art Pearl), which is slightly glossy. As there will be no glass on the images, I think it will look fantastic in the room.
Based on the space itself and also depending on the subject of the images, the prints vary in sizes, from the smallest that are 20cm by 30 cm to some that are 1m by 1,5m and will be hanging in the middle of the room, and other large images in the garden. It is so different from Instagram or a screen: there are images that just deserve to be shown in a large format.
Q. There is something in the poster for the exhibition that hints at a theatre play, a comedy. Am i right to assume that this was the intention?
Not really. It was more of a practical thing. First, a poster has to be vertical, and most of my images are horizontal. So we had to find images that would still look good cropped in that format. Then, with the title and text, you also take away a lot of information from the image. This one, i liked immediately: the look of surprise, the beautiful cinematic atmosphere, it combines so well with the title: it just fits like a glove.
Q. I understand that you’ve worked with a curator for the preparation of the exhibition. What was the collaboration like?
I’ve worked with Constanza (Insta). Obviously, sometimes in the process, we had different opinions, and she might pick images that I was not considering, or the other way round. We just had different views. Then we talked. It went both ways but I think it happened more that she would give me her reasons and I would “concede”. There is also that photographers have this emotional attachment to the moment when you made the image, the light, the atmosphere, the emotions of that moment. She could look at the images more objectively. The same happened with the combination of certain images.
It is a bit strange at first, but then, seeing your images through someone else’s eyes, it opens your mind, it opens you to new perspectives. You have to let go of your previous conceptions of your images and accept a different take on them. It’s been a really good experience: hearing another perspective and discovering that it actually also works in a different way than what you had thought.
Q. What was it like to have somebody write about your work?
Well, first, I’m not good at writing. And this is sensitive for me, because very often i’ll read a text in an art exhibition and think, this sounds very pretentious, you know, just artsy-fartsy stuff that is very blown-up and detached from reality. I did not want anything like that. I wanted something simple and straightforward. So we talked about the different versions of the text.
And the text that will be on the wall in the exhibition, and a longer version in the booklet, i would never write something like this. That is how she sees my work. I would just never express it like that but when I read it, it makes perfect sense. There are passages that are just spot on. It's just that I would never be able to express it like that.
Website: https://gilribeiro.com/
Instagram: @gileres
The exhibition A Series of UnFortunate Events opens on 19th Sept. (18h) and runs until 18th Oct. at the Biblioteca de Alcântara in Lisbon.
Ah oui, au fait:
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the drama on the stage within
My little book the drama on the stage within is available on amaz0n. You can find out more about the project here or in this previous post:
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