EDGAR MARTINS

os aeroportos, as gares, as paisagens...

When the light casts no shadow

Between 2006 and 2008, I was granted unrestricted access to some of the most interesting airports in Europe. After completing a commission for the European Airports Authority - entitled Approaches - I produced 'When Light Casts No Shadow'. Much of the series was produced in the Azores, where the airports used to both be a compulsory stop for early Transatlantic flights and important military bases in both world wars. Some of these airports are unique in that the runways and standing areas are surfaced in back tarmac and not the usual concrete. Over time, parts of these airports have fallen into disuse and become dilapidated, and it is this that drew me to them.I chose to photograph almost exclusively at night, utilising large format cameras (8x10 and 8x20), the airport's floodlights and long exposures of up to two hours in order to register minute tonal differences between blacktop and night sky, my camera picking out fluorescent signs and markings on the ground - and also the patterns of the weeds that had grown in cracks that had occurred due to lack of maintenance. The result is an imagery that is even more abstract and enigmatic than that of the earlier series.

Este texto encontra-se no site do artista www.edgarmartins.com e explica de forma precisa os objectivos e os métodos. Não conhecia a obra de Edgar Martins e é por essas razões que vale a pena comprar o Expresso ao sábado: Jorge Calado tem sempre qualquer coisa importante para nos dizer.

Duas exposições de Edgar Martins estão patentes em Lisboa: no CCB (24.3 a 17.5) e no Museu do Oriente (até 19.4). Às bilheteiras, cidadãos!