Watching World Cup matches precludes my ability to write a full entry this week. Instead, above is a photo I took in Porto, Portugal in 2015.
2022 25: Memories of Portugal
In September 2015 I went to Porto, Portugal for a one month artist residency. For a long time I had fantasies of taking an artist residency and had applied for a handful but did not get accepted. The Porto residency seemed a little bit more casual; not a rigid application process (but I did have to show work and do an interview before I was excepted.)
I knew little about Porto when I took this trip. I also was coming off of a major abdominal surgery which had complications resulting in a fairly serious life-threatening situation for me. It was after this health challenge that I realized (and I know this is a cliché) that life is short and you shouldn’t put off things you wanna do; things you want to pursue. You really don’t know how long you’re going to be on this earth. So it was in this mindset that I decided to travel to Portugal. I boarded a plane for Portugal at the end of August (the day after my birthday) not knowing where I was going or who I was going to be living with. Everything was literally an unknown to me.
I arrived in the city of Porto, not knowing what I was going to do or if I was going to do anything at all. I brought plenty of camera equipment, of course. I did plenty of research for resources in Portugal. I even connected with a friend who lives in Lisbon ,who I was planning on seeing while I was there. Other than that, I also carried a copy of Moby Dick with me, in case I was not feeling creative at all, at least I could tackle a good book in the time that I had off.
I shared an apartment building with a group of other artists from all over the world. There was Patrick, an illustrator from Great Britain. There was Juliet who was an illustrator from Canada. There was Rann, who is a musician, there was Ivan, an artist from Mexico City and myself. The house was tended to by two Norwegian artists, and two interns from the Czech Republic (who were both named Lenka.) There was also a house cat named Latto. The house was near the old part of Porto, at the border where the city turns modern and contemporary. The building itself was at least 100 years old, and had large wooden windows opened up to the street…which allowed plenty of flies to come into the house. One of the first things I did when arriving in Porto was go to a hardware store and try to explain that I need it fly strips… not speaking a word of Portuguese, of course. I mimed it and they understood what I needed. The windows of the kitchen of the apartment looked out across the street to a brothel. All day and all night there were older women on the sidewalks escorting blue-collar man into the brothel. I would often sit at the window smoking cigarettes, just watching the endless parade of johns.
There are other things that I remember about Porto. There were definitely smells. The apartment was on an alley, upstairs from a small café where every morning the smell of a garlic infused caldo would waft up into my bedroom. There is also the smell of bacalao, dried cod which is popular everywhere in Portugal and the distinct salty, fishy smell was everywhere. There was exhaust fumes from buses and cars. There was the smell of cigarettes of course. And oil paints and inks, and a dirty bathroom, and the incense that I would burn to keep the mosquitoes away, and the smell of an occasional rain on the cobblestone sidewalks and streets of Porto.
There were taste as well. I would often eat a small pork sandwich called a bifana. There were the Portuguese tarts with coffee in the morning. The taste of cheap, local white wine from the nearby Douro Valley bought at the local grocery for two euros a bottle.
And of course, there were sounds always sounds in the city. The apartment was a few blocks away from a church that would ring it ancient bells regularly, especially early in the morning; it was a beautiful sound. My fellow artist across the hall was is doing a series of artwork with an old typewriter. He stayed in his room with the door closed almost all the time. But I would hear the incessant clacking of the typewriter. At the end of the month when we all shared our work that we created, I remember he filled his room with sheets of paper with oddly designed geometric shapes that he typed out on the typewriter, hanging on string from wall to wall.
I could go into the artwork that I created while I was in Portugal. I feel like the less I say about it the better though, because the artwork that I created was the result of everything that I allowed myself to experience. And it was these experiences that were far more important to me. I did eventually create a book and an exhibit of the photographs from Portugal. This was a huge step forward in my belief in myself as a photographer and artist. It also began a self publishing journey which I continue to this day, almost obsessively.
So this rambling entry is really just to document my feelings about time. Not only the time that I spent in Portugal, but also the value of giving myself that gift of time to pursue something deeply important in my heart. My hope is that reading these words encourages you to consider giving yourself the gift of time to pursue whatever it is you are interested in. It doesn’t have to be a month overseas. It could just be an afternoon by yourself. It might lead to something amazing, or it might just be a much needed break from your routine.
2022: 9 A New Collaboration
Excited to be working on a new project with two fellow photo / artists from Europe.
Beware the Ides of March.
More to come soon…
Beyond Words, Beyond Expectations
Sometimes it takes a while to realize that you have made a good choice in your life's direction. Over two years ago, I decided to take my personal photography more seriously. One thing that I always dreamed of doing, but never had the guts to attempt, was an artist residency. So, in early 2015, I mustered the courage to apply for an opportunity to spend a month in the city of Porto, Portugal. My focus on Portugal was partly due to my connection with fellow photographer, Fabio Miguel Roque. He is based in Sintra, just outside of the capital of Lisbon. We are both members of the Latent Image Collective, and though we had never met in person, I was excited to finally connect and spend some time shooting together. Long story short, I was invited for a residency at De Liceiras 18, and spent a month focussing on my personal photographic work. I also spent two days shooting with Fábio, and our creative bonds deepened as a result.
Fast forward to October 2016. Fábio and I were looking for a project to collaborate on long-distance. We devised a plan to shoot simultaneously for 24 hours, each of us taking a solo, photographic road trip, each wandering without a set plan into the desert near our homes. We would share the results of the trip in a joint publication. We released the book "Beyond / Além" last year, and hoped that we could one day exhibit the work. That hope will be realized this weekend in Évora, Portugal.
I am so thrilled to be able to share the walls of a gallery with my friend and collaborator, and it stands as a tangible manifestation of the idea we had months ago. What is even more meaningful to me is that first step I took outside of my comfort zone, the decision to travel to Portugal in the first place, has reaped so many benefits for me personally and creatively.
The show opens this Saturday at the Palácio de D. Manuel in Évora. I received the text from the program, that was written by Eduardo Luciano, Councilor for Culture of the Municipality of Évora. I'd like to share it here, as it is an insightful analysis of the work that Fábio and I created. I am honored and humbled by these words.
“Only art could unite two realities that are two thousand kilometers away, and yet they feel so close. From these images we can perceive that the ocean that separates is, above all, the ocean that also unites us, just as the bridge that we share may be the element we need to overcome and to reach the other. The aridity, the loneliness, the paths that the work of these two photographers explore, seem to go nowhere. Yet, there have the common features: the existence of humans, both in the American desert and in the Alentejo. We look at the two realities from a point so far and yet so close, via the sensitivity of these two artists.
This exhibition is a challenge of reading reality, above prejudices and against prejudices. In a world where the unknown is the engine of our fear and in which there is a growing temptation to mortgage freedom on behalf of a false security, Fábio Miguel Roque and Nick Tauro Jr. show us, in an impressive way, the deep similarities that bind us.
The Municipality of Évora could not fail to accept and promote this universalist approach to space, as it explores the aesthetic convergence of two naturally divergent environments. It is our duty, as a public service, to promote unrest, stave off the doldrums, question certainties, and discuss the unknown. Without fear and knowing that the “invisible city”, that Italo Calvino brilliantly put into the words of Marco Polo, it will be whenever our imagination allows.
Welcome to the journey, welcome to the paths that lead us to the “other” landscape. So that the difficulty of finding it is not as difficult as José Samarago enunciated in his speech before accepting the Nobel Prize, “one arrives more easily at Mars than at our own fellow human.” Perhaps art is the map that enables the trip to the universe of the other, and is more pleasant and shorter than the hypothetical arrival to Mars.”
Click on the images above to see the program from the exhibit.
Beyond / Além featured on P3 Público website
Very excited to receive an incredibly nice feature in the Portuguese publication, P3 Publico today. The book project I completed with Fabio Miguel Roque earlier this year was a very rewarding collaboration. I thank Fabio for his friendship and ambition to bring this project to fruition. (Note: the text to the linked story is in Portuguese, but Chrome browser allows you to translate to English.)
"Beyond / Além" : My newest book project
I am very pleased to announce the release of my new photo book. It is a collaboration with my good friend Fábio Miguel Roque, a wonderful photographer, based in Portugal. We each set out to shoot on October 22, 2016, each taking a solo road trip, departing from our homes at midnight, and shot over the next full 24 hours. The resulting book contains twenty four images from each of us, and the book is designed to feature each of our series in a unique manner. The book reads as an English version, featuring my photos, and if you flip the book over, it reads as a Portuguese version, with Fabio's photos featured. Two books in one!
The books will be available for purchase starting on April 15, 2017. we only printed twenty four copies, so this will be extremely limited edition. International buyers can purchase through Fabio's website The Unknown Books, and US buyers can purchase via my store. Local Albuquerque buyers can contact me for in person purchases. I am proud of the project that Fábio and I have created, and I hope you all like the work.
Sample spread by Fabio Miguel Roque (left) and Nick Tauro Jr. (right)
"Saudade" work featured in P3, a leading Portuguese publication →
Click here to see the article (which is in Portuguese) but here is a translation:
The American Nick Tauro Jr. spent a month in Portugal in search of "saudade" and guarantees, it is almost palpable. In an interview with P3 he said other European countries not observed manifestations of this feeling, so private, so Portuguese. "It became evident on the streets of cities, architecture and routines I observed firsthand. I noticed that people have a great connection with its past, despite the globalization of the twenty-first century which is already very clear," he added. The feeling is contagious, he believes. "I quickly recognized the 'saudade' in my personal experience. It seemed to be manifested in unfamiliar surroundings. I found that I have a great predisposition to melancholy and nostalgia, and that's what allowed me to develop this project." Photographed in Porto, Lisbon, Braga, Fatima, Angeiras, Vila do Conde and Coimbra during an artist residency. Resulted from this work nine thousand photographs that spent three months editing to turn into eighty-publish under the photobook format by The Unknown Books. The photobook "Saudade" can be purchased through the publisher's website.
Saudade: Book Release
I am very happy to announce that my book of photographs, Saudade, will be released this coming week. Published by The Unknown Books, it is an 80 page, perfect bound, soft cover book.
There is a limited number of books available that come with a signed, original photograph. Please visit the publisher's website today to pre-order and qualify for free worldwide shipping. For my local, New Mexico customers, you can purchase the book directly from me, and books will be available at my gallery opening on July 16th. Price for Saudade will be $25 for the regular edition, $40 for the limited edition with signed photograph.