Encontros da Imagem, with more than thirty years of existence, is a non-profit cultural association that promotes annually an International Photography and Visual Arts Festival in the city of Braga, Portugal. The festival celebrates classic and contemporary photography and visual arts in general by showcasing emerging and established artists.

Génesis 2.1

Never a chosen theme for an edition of Encontros da Imagem as made so much sense, given the current situation the world is going through since the beginning of the decade.“Génesis 2:1” is a continuation of the theme and work started last year. One year after, we and the rest of the world are back into a general confinement as a result of the pandemic due to COVID-19. Caos and confusion ensued. A collective inability to understand the disorder of things, confronted humanity with increasingly complex and demanding challenges. Contemporary society has long faced enormous challenges of a global nature: from issues related to the planet earth and it’s ecology problems such as lost of biodiversity and global warming and issues regarding the civilisations that inhabits it, which generate so much inequality and moral indifference through politics and religion. What we call progress has coincided with the humanisation of the world, but it may end up being exactly what will dictate its end. The crisis that we are going through is an opportunity to think together and come up with solutions to what needs to be done.

 

 

History

Encontros da Imagem - Cultural Association was created in 1987, and has been essential for the dissemination and creation of photography for the last thirty years. In the first editions of the festival (starting in 1987), the focus was on classic authors that were essential to understanding the history of photography and at the same time contemporary authors that were working with new ideas of representation. At the time, the photographic scene in Portugal was very small with only few photographers working and some exhibitions happening. On the other hand, teaching and researching the medium of photography was also scarce. At the time the founders of Encontros da Imagem – Cultural Association decided to fill those gaps by creating a festival where national and international authors where showed. Since then the association has been broadening their goals, at the moment the three main lines are: creation, dissemination and teaching.

With the idea of helping young photographers to show/promote their work, in 2009 the festival created the Portfolio Reviews. This activity is an important platform where photographers and critics exchange ideas and were critics help develop and promote the photographers work.

Encontros da Imagem – International Photography Festival has had an important role in promoting Portuguese photography outside the country in the internationally photography scene, through exhibitions and projections. Throughout the last twenty-nine editions, the festival has also been a good platform for Portuguese authors to showcase their work in a national context through the festival.

The festival aims to confront and reflect around the current photography themes, from a documentary approach – essential to understanding the status quo, to works that incorporate new image technology.

Aware of how important it is to reach broader audiences; the festival produces activities for the general public - exhibitions and photography projections. For a more specific public, with a very high interest in photography and art, the festival besides the exhibitions and photography projections also organizes awards, workshops and masterclasses.

Encontros da Imagem – International Photography and Visual Arts Festival is the biggest photography festival in Portugal and one of the oldest in Europe.

Team


Carlos Fontes

Director & Artistic Director


Carla Bacelar

Director


Tiago Dias dos Santos

Director


Simone Almeida

Production Director


Noora Manty

Production


Ana Patrícia

Translation


Partners