Orgulho Bairrista is a collaborative project by photographer Andy Dyo and anthropologist Iñigo Sánchez-Fuarros, created in partnership with Marcha da Mouraria and Grupo Desportivo da Mouraria.
Focusing on Lisbon’s marchas populares and their capacity to mobilize emotions tied to neighborhood belonging, this project explores how participants in Marcha da Mouraria enact pride while representing their community in the annual competition held on the eve of Saint Anthony’s Day.
Pride is examined through two complementary dimensions. First, as a collective emotion produced and experienced through active participation in the marcha. Second, as an expressive form of individuality: rather than diminishing personal feelings of dignity and self-worth, the social and symbolic space of the marcha provides a collective framework that actively encourages their expression.
The portraits comprising the exhibition were taken at two distinct moments: in the studio, where the marchantes posed unclothed, wearing nothing but the tattoos that mark some of their bodies; and on parade day, fully costumed, captured minutes before they marched through the neighborhood toward the competition. Through both the portraits and the life histories of these young men and women, a defiant pride emerges—pride in being from and representing Mouraria, sustaining a tradition passed from generation to generation whose future remains uncertain amid the neighborhood’s ongoing socio-demographic transformation.
Orgulho Bairrista includes a short audiovisual essay and a printed catalogue.
Concept: Iñigo Sánchez Fuarros and Andy Dyo
Photography: Andy Dyo | Texts and video: Iñigo Sánchez Fuarros
Participants: Fernanda Neves, Cátia Pereira, André Sousa, Cátia Nunes, Vítor Hugo Sousa, Suse João, Nelson Filipe Alves, Paulo Condeço, Tiago dos Santos, Gil Mendes, Patrícia Braz, Pedro Oliveira, Sofia Ferreira, André Pinto, Jéssica Duarte, Tânia Correia e Andreia Fernandes.
Partners: Grupo Desportivo da Mouraria and Junta de Freguesia de Santa Maria Maior
Support: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under a SR&TD Project Grant (PTDC/ART-PER/32417/2017, NOVA FCSH, INET-md