A while ago, the New York Times mentioned, in an article very aptly called ‘If you can’t fix it, art it’, the creative approach to the ever increasing austerity programs and escalating taxes imposed by Troika, by Portuguese protesters.
Inspired by the May 68 and the actions of Parisian protesters, who occupied the fine arts school and turned it into an office for the production and dissemination of political signage, a wide range of movements and community driven projects spread around town, calling for action under the motto ‘O Povo é Quem Mais Ordena’ (‘It’s the People Who Call the Shots’).
Interesting here is the strong use of art and design, not only by artists and designers themselves but also by the people, as mediums for spreading social awareness and call for political action, specially in a time where cuts were felt deeply in Culture and most cultural institutions and artists struggle to keep adrift.
In the same context, Ghost, a Lisbon-based association founded by Portuguese photographer Patrícia Almeida and French editor/curator David-Alexandre Guéniot, has been playing an important role in documenting these moments. By appropriating a wide range of produced content and bringing them together in their published books, Ghost aims to constitute a visual memory of contemporary political issues.
I Fear Nothing Because I Have Nothing is a simple — though beautiful in its sense of displacement — collection of shots of posters left behind the demonstration held on October 15th, 2011 that culminated in the occupation of the Parliament staircase in Lisbon.
