BY STEVE BISSON
Recently, I leafed through a book by Pedro Ramos published by The Spring Press NYC. Another interesting discovery. The book is titled ‘Ilha’ (Island) and is the first monograph of the Portuguese photographer Pedro Ramos.He was born, not surprisingly, on Madeira Island and currently living on another island, a little bigger, Australia.
But let’s immediately consider the book, an exciting one. It is an intimate story, which is revealed right away, like some novels written in the first person. And we know that is not easy to write in this manner because the pitfalls are many. Among which is a matching of the narrator with the author.
The book appeared to me as a collection of personal feelings, made of moments. The people are portrayed in a natural way and the images, in this sense, seem drawn from a diary. The book took me into a pleasant, sunny, offhand and sometimes dreamlike atmosphere. This island is not described geographically, and it may appear to the reader as a kind of “Neverland”. An utopian reality of random situations and encounters that are only partially vernacular.
At first I felt the lack of some word, some reference, but then I realized that the skill of Pedro Ramos lies in having created a suspended dimension. For a moment the reader abandons all preconceptions. The sequence of images kept me intrigued until the end. And after closing the book I had the pleasant feeling of having shared an emotion. I felt that many of these photographs are strong and conscious and this has slowed my reading as well as those white spaces, which do not create any detachment but increased my imagination.
I think that is in the encounter between the water and the human being that this story shows its strength. In this diving or jumping into nature, in this desire that comes from far away and yet makes its way effortlessly inside of us, we discover a need for freedom, sun, air and light.
However, this coexistence is also dubious and curious. Pedro Ramos expresses it through some beautiful images of architecture and buildings which stand out against the sky, the sea, and a seemingly untouched nature.
In this “biting” of the coast and its surface, in this inevitable desire for transformation, I do not see a need for destruction but a way to embed our roots and cling to life before time passes us by.
© Pedro Ramos | Urbanautica