Herbarium

About This Project

This project was made in the context of a photography class with the objective of creating a themed herbarium. The them was free choice, and I chose to document something very personal to me in the form of the abandonment of Portugal's countryside.

The objective of this work is to demonstrate the abandonment of the interior area of Portugal through a style named "urban decay", that is, photos of Houses that have been consumed by the surrounding nature.

To make this work, I walked the paths of many villages around the place where i was born and lived all my life, including the itenerary I had to do daily to go to university. I spent weeks in search of houses that are in a high state of degradation and after taking several photographs, I selected the 6 that I thought were the best and used digital treatment to bring out the green hue of the plants as a way to reinforce the idea that nature took over these formerly inhabited places.

This project was also inspired by two very relevant photography collections. "Orphans of time" by Rebecca Bathory and "Impermanence" by Matthias Haker.