The history or histories of work are rarely written from the perspective of the woman’s body, which is often sidelined into performing roles considered minor or complementary to men’s work. In keeping with the theme of Porto Femme – Women and Work – we have embraced the documentary nature of the challenge set for women and non-binary people in an international open call. We have received images in which the female body is present because it is within this body that work is inscribed: in the repeated gesture, in the wear and tear caused by excessive strain, and in the overlap of visible and invisible labour.

This exhibition of documentary photography – comprising 50 printed images and dozens of projected images – amounts to a veritable “catalogue” of the countless forms of work produced by women. From the domestic sphere to commerce and industry, from formal to informal work, from caregiving to artistic creation, the images reveal a world that goes unnoticed because it is rendered invisible by the prioritisation of the masculine, by the silence in which it takes place, and because it has become normalised.

The selected photographs reveal a diversity of roles, functions and tasks across different geographical areas where the context may vary, but the overload and devaluation are similar.

Women drive buses, locomotives and tractors, sell fish and mend nets, repair street furniture, sow seeds, tend the land and harvest crops, sweep rubbish from homes and streets, sew and mend, tend to bodies as manicurists, hairdressers and tattoo artists, cook in restaurants, canteens and taverns, knit, weave and embroider, sing, dance, paint and draw as a form of work.

Priority was given to the presence of the body, the evidence of doing, of the everyday gesture, rather than metaphor or staging, to make evident what is effectively not so. Hence the relevance of the theme. The devaluation of women’s work is part of the structure through which the world is interpreted because it is work that is rendered invisible, diminished precisely because it is carried out by women and, for that very reason, more precarious, more poorly paid, and less socially recognised.

There is a form of work that remains, even in this exhibition, in the silence of everyday life – the work that women perform daily in the home: they cook, wash, iron, manage the household and do the shopping, look after the children and so often it is they who accompany them to school and help with homework, care for the elderly, worry, and devise more effective and affordable solutions so as not to exceed the family budget.

They are judged negatively when something goes wrong, but receive little recognition because, after all, “they do what is expected of them because they are women”.

We present evidence for you to consider. It is up to those viewing these photographs to draw conclusions, formulate interpretations, and recognise the way in which women’s work is viewed and (de)valued.

If it serves as a foundation for more attentive, critical and active thinking... it was worth it!

Porto Femme - International Film Festival

Since 2017, Porto Femme - International Film Festival has been a space for the exhibition and promotion of multiple and diverse artistic visions. A concrete step in the fight for equitable representation, centred on new re-presentations of identity that seek to deconstruct stereotypes and eliminate invisibility. This event is a festival with a varied and appealing programme for the public, including competitive scree

MIRA Galleries

MIRA Galleries, located in Campanhã since 2013, have established themselves as an interdisciplinary cultural project comprising 3 galleries across 4 spaces: MIRA FORUM, dedicated to photography; Espaço MIRA, dedicated to contemporary art in its various forms; and MIRA | performing arts, dedicated to performance and contemporary dance. The programme is diverse, including exhibitions by artists from different generations and disciplines, book launches, conferences, debates, photographic tours, concerts, literary gatherings, photography and writing workshops...

The private MIRA Galerias project maintains an ongoing commitment to engaging with the surrounding community: neighbours, the local youth centre and local associations with whom they develop participatory projects.

SHORTLIST

Agustina Pagani | Alexia Delorme | Alisa Velieva | Ana Miriam | Ana Rocha | Andréa Seligman | Andreia Kris | Arlete Bonelli | Beni Pons | Biana Cefaliello | Chica Miranda | Chrisa Sereti | Dea Toledo | Elizabeth Machado | Eugenia Silva | Filipa Scarpa | Francisca Salvado | Graziele Galvão | Hsilun Chen | Inês Falafogo | Isabella Koscheck | Katarzyna Weremko | Lara Plácido | Larissa Ribeiro | Leila Soares | Lídia Moura | Luisa Rodrigues | Lurdes Prestes | Manuela Vaz Marques | Mariana Maia Rocha | Mary Rosenfeld | Mary Crnkovic | Matilde Senra | Mónica Brandão | Naia Dandrea | Nina Pulita | Olga Arune | Olimpia C. Branco | Raquel Marto | Renee Zanone | Rimma Kim | Sandra Carrillo | Salomé Carvalho | Sofia Freitas | Grace Ribeiro | Teresa Soares | Paula Gonzalez | Pilvikki Kause | Paula Preto | Leticia Castro

PROJECTED IMAGES

Adriana Rocha | Ana Pacios | Beatriz de Almeida | Daniela Zapata | Denise Amon | Diana Paiva | Dores Ribeiro | Hannah Brunkhor | Heloiza Averbuck | Huiling Chen | Isabel Leal | Isabel Luz | Isbela Mota | Julia Zyrina | Katarina Radovic | Leticia Castro | Louyse Gerardo | Luísa Fernandes | Maria Antonio | Maria Faial | Marisa Gaspar | Mathilde Rato | Monica Toscani | Nastaran Tafazoli | Natacha Sampaio | Irena Paskali | Patrícia Vieira Campos | Paula Guardian | Pirjo Sipi | Rajaa Khenous | Raquel Lamares | Raquel Silva | Renata Paiva | Sandra Carrillo | Sandra Irsevic | Sarah Pereira | Silvia Torres | Sofia Augusto | Sofia Santos | Sonia Quinche | Sónia YrmanY | Teresa Huertas | Eunice Vasques

CREDITS

MIRA Galerias

Directed by Manuela Matos Monteiro and João Lafuente

Communications Manuela Matos Monteiro and Beatriz Vital

Assistant Beatriz Vital