Skin of the City

[TIL #47] Looking at Urban Surfaces

Folks,

A very warm welcome to new subscribers, and warm greetings to you all.

Today, i’m presenting an exploration of how i have connected with Lisbon over the course of the last four years, a reflection on my growing sense of familiarity, intimacy even, with the city.

I have defined this project through the metaphor of skin as a surface that takes you beyond the surface: the skin of the city, like human skin, is a narrative fabric.

These images show urban surfaces, urban landscapes flattened to games of geometry and textures, all in colour. There is no human being in the images but the images are about a real city, as it exists and as it is lived. It is a realistic approach, devoid of embellishment but not necessarily of wonder.

skin is the surface that takes you beyond the surface

              touching someone’s skin is an act of communication

there are no words            you might get it wrong

it can be subtle              you might not notice all that passes

shaking hands
you form an idea about their nature or their current emotional state

there are contacts that cause confusion
like a sudden excess of information that momentarily drowns your mental system
and there are massages that comfort the whole being

skin is a narrative fabric where lines and wrinkles tell of age
        scars of past battles
                 tan and makeup of lifestyle
            tattoos of hopes and dreams
skin is information
skin is transmission
skin is intimacy

i touched the skin of the city with the camera

i walked beyond the hotspots
i walked beyond love at first sight
the obvious beauty
the picturesque flows of the ‘gram

seeing the surface of the city
touching the skin of the city
seeing the urban surface is similar to touching skin
i have entered into a deeper learning
i have reached a deeper understanding
i have achieved a deeper intimacy with the city

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I previously mentioned an early stage of the project in the Tales:

The surface that takes you beyond the surface

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Get the ebook ‘touching the skin of a city’

• 43 photographs | 2 texts | . pdf file, 20 Mo

• Get the ebook (.pdf) at https://inkandlight.gumroad.com/l/touching-skin? for 7,5 EUR or, for the time being, pay what you like.

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Thank you for taking part in the Tales of Ink and Light. It’s good to have you on board.

Pierre François D.