Lauren Maganete’s photographs are predominantly in black and white, yet the world she presents to us lies far beyond the spectrum that separates these two opposites. If we were to define the central theme of her work, we might say it is the world itself, for her photographs convey the wonder that leads her to capture fleeting moments, invisible to the ordinary eye. Lauren lingers on the crack in a door, a sliver of light, the flight of a bird, the grimace of a performer, the shiny shoes and the worn-out ones, the textures of a face or a tree trunk, the veins on the underside of a leaf.

In the photographs on display at MIRA FORUM, the presence of women dominates; they are situated in neutral, imprecise contexts because they assert themselves through the portrait (Eunice Muñoz and Aurora Gaia), in full-length shots, in partial body shots, or through shoes worn by someone whose body and story we can only guess at.

The large-screen projection is titled ‘Of the Body and There’ and offers us fragments of choreographies in which feet, arms and torsos are not anatomy but rather spokespeople for joys, sorrows, anxieties, hopes, despairs and prayers, celebrations.

In many photographs, the floor is the sky, the feet are birds, and this capacity for transfiguration is present in the images she posts, for example, on social media. The everyday world, routine objects are more than just utilitarian; they take on a dimension that is one of the exceptionality of beauty.

In her photographs, which are frozen moments, we sense time in a dimension other than that of clocks, for it is the time of wonder. Lauren’s works possess the ineffable presence of wonder.

And that is so much

and that is so very much.

Manuela Matos Monteiro

Exhibition on display from 6 January to 17 February 2024

Curated by Manuela Matos Monteiro and João Lafuente

Assistant: Luísa Rosas da Silva

Lauren Maganete was born in Bragança in 1970 and studied in Porto, graduating with a degree in Business Management and Administration. She has been producing photographic work for the Municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia since 2009. Her work has been published in various national and international magazines and newspapers.

She regularly takes part in solo and group exhibitions:

Madrid, Lisbon, Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Coimbra, Bragança, Braga, Ovar, Águeda and Cerveira. She works as a freelance photographer, collaborating with various institutions and companies. Her work is held in various public and private collections.

In 2016, she was the highest-ranked Portuguese artist in the MIRA Mobile Prize, organised by MIRA FORUM. She participated as a guest artist and in the competition at the Gaia Biennial in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

In 2018, she won the Acquisition Prize at the 20th Internationa Art Biennial of Cerveira. In 2020, she participated as a guest artist at the Cerveira Biennial. In 2020, she won the Mateus A. Araújo dos Anjos Artistic Prize 2020. In 2022, she took part in the fourth Salerno Biennial and won third prize.

Regarding the artistic work she produces, Lauren Maganete says: “The photographs capture the unique movement of each individual, amplify idiosyncrasies, and perpetuate the connection between who we are and the ground, thus always becoming the stage”.

laurenmaganetephotography@gmail.com