Without ever revealing the location, the weaknesses and lack of conditions were portrayed by photojournalist Mário Cruz. Many of these people work, but are unable to pay the rent for a house. A reality in which hundreds of people live.
“This photograph shows Mr. Gomes, a person who lived in an abandoned building. We have elements that show how these people survive. This crack in the wall is covered with their own clothes. And while on the one hand this is something that is hidden and it is spread throughout the city, on the other hand, as I said, it is not completely unknown to those who live around it”explains.
For 10 years, Mário Cruz traveled to various areas of Lisbon to photograph vacant spaces. The ROOF project – The Hidden Side of the Housing Crisis comes at a time when the 50th anniversary of April 25th is being celebrated.
“ROOF serves precisely to be a warning. There has been so much progress, so much improvement, so much reconstruction and not a solution, there was no answer for housing. April 25th is not just the past, it is the present, and this exhibition serves precisely to show this. In the 50th anniversary of April 25th, I think it’s good to think about what was left to be accomplished”adds the photojournalist.
The photographs were exhibited at the Antigo Recolhimento das Merceeiras, in Alfama, a vacant building provided by Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Lisboa, surrounded by local accommodation, which allows some of the documented environments to be recreated.
The exhibition can be seen until June 9th.
