This photograph, taken at the home of Marcelino Vespeira’s parents in Samouco, portrays Fernando de Azevedo in a relaxed pose, with pets and some plants in the background.

The use of the mesh-like fabric of the door curtain was recurrent in some of Fernando Lemos’s works, particularly in the photograph of Maria Emília, Azevedo’s wife, taken in the same place.

The use of this ‘filter’ in the photograph serves not only to deconstruct the title of the image, removing its objectivity, but also distracts the observer’s attention towards the two distinct planes, forcing them at the same time into a complicity with the photographer as voyeur.

José Oliveira
2022