Pego Negro
Portugal
2021
Pego Negro means “Dark Drain”
Pego Negro is also the name of a small village on the outskirts of Porto. Pego Negro is also crossed by the Rio Tinto. In recent decades, due to urban expansion, part of the river has been intubated and several ecological crimes have made Rio Tinto one of the most polluted rivers in the north of the country.
Using the river water to develop some of the black & white film that he used to photograph, Bruno SILVA tried to bring the pollution into the photograph itself through the pollution present in the water. Sometimes resulting in strange solarizations due to the high levels of bleach present in the river.
“Pego Negro” is about the passage of time that is closely linked to photography: from erosion through pollution, through aging and how it all can affect and modify the landscape around us – the photographic medium itself and our visual perception.
With the support of the Gulbenkian Foundation – Delegation in France
With the support of Camões – Centro Cultural Português em Paris
Portfolio
About the artist
Bruno SILVA is a portughese photographer born in 1983, uses photography as vehicle in projects in the area of documentary / personal. He Exhibits regularly since 2017 in Portugal and won the scholarship for Emerging Documentary Photography by Manifesto (IPCI in Porto). In 2018, he won the grant of the festival Estação Imagem Coimbra.