André Cepeda
Ontem
HC, 27 x 24 cm., 132 pp.
Le caillou bleu 2010
"Portuguese photographer André Cepeda exhibits [his] work frequently and has had a number of books [published.] In the book 'Ontem' (which means 'yesterday' in Portuguese) he has followed the lives of the people of Porto - photographing landscapes, interiors and portraits in and of the region. Cepeda, concerned with poverty and social injustice, has gained access to theses small closed districts and where people live in families and couples in tiny apartments. There, he managed build relationships with these people who often feel there is no hope or prospects for the future.
In these spaces, Cepeda's photographs allow the viewer to hear the silence, which gives the images a charged intensity. The couples, with whom he has had long conversations and who survive on very strong bonds of love forged between them, are perhaps the essence of the photographer's work: to try to express ideas in the picture through the understanding of others and those around him." (rareautumn.blogspot.com)
"There are a lot of images in [André Cepeda]?s [Ontem], but it?s well worth a good look." (Jim Colberg)
André Cepeda by himself: ?Ontem? (?Yesterday?) is the title of this project that started when I met H., who used to park cars in front of my house. As I walked my dog every day we would often end up talking. I showed him my interest in getting to know the streets he ran through and the quarters he hanged about. We would work every week and sometimes for several days running. The absence of time I felt in the places and in the people I would come across, the danger and the reality?s harshness began to interest me. Only later did I understand that this project made a lot of sense to me. My life has always crossed with drug-related stories. The fact that I live in Porto?s downtown makes me face that reality every day." (in: bite magazine)