Proof
Proof reflects on the photographic discipline and its potential for invisibility. What is the narrative power of the image when it does not represent the photographed – subject and/or context – but rather its absence?
During the Portuguese Colonial War or Liberation War, between 1961 and 1974, around 600,000 Portuguese soldiers were mobilised to Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. Every day they produced around ten tonnes of correspondence. Starting from my paternal grandmother’s collection, this body of work studies photography and documents, their ethos of proof, wondering its potential simulacrum. Proof reflects on and interrogates these images as a historical medium, emphasising their personal, social and politically discursive role.