Book V2.1

(...) To the question “why women?” I answer “because yes”. How to photograph them? More complicated. I didn't want to work with models from agencies or magazines, people who had taken fashion courses, who had learned how to be in front of a camera, poses, makeup, and were even able to tell me how they wanted to be lit. (...)

When talking to the models, the expression "book" came up several times, when they referred to the fact that in their work with other photographers they photographed for a "book". I had the opportunity to see some of these "books" (the photographs that the model uses to promote herself), sets of very diverse images with no apparent connection, taken on a "TPF" (time per photo) basis. In this system, the model is not paid and receives photos that she uses for whatever purpose she wants, in exchange for the time spent. However, you have to pay the photographers for the photographs they provide, which constitute your portfolio – a process that was explained to me, which I was unfamiliar with and which I still have some difficulty understanding, not only because some of these photographers were weekend amateurs, but also because of the uncertainty regarding the use of the remaining images produced.

Therefore, ironically, from very early on the title of this series was defined as "Book," and no matter how much I said that the photographs were intended for an exhibition at the Serralves Museum, few of the models recognized the museum's name. In this "Book," the models were paid for their work in the various sessions. Although, to this day, no photograph from this series has ever been sold, I committed to paying them a percentage of the respective sale. This has already happened with some people who worked with me on other projects, namely in the case of the work entitled "Lau," now in the Berardo Collection.

Among the thousands of photographs I've taken, choosing the 100 I presented in 2009 was already very complex. Over time, I realized that those 100 images could have been different, or even 200 instead of 100. *Book* is the first series of photographs I've done that seems to have neither beginning nor end and is capable of changing over time. If I were to review all the images I've taken today, there would surely be many others that I would like to use.

For this inaugural exhibition of Câmara Escura - Cooperativa de Comunicação e Cultura, I reduced *Book* to only 13 of the original 100 photographs, to which I added 2 photographs taken and exhibited in 2012 under the title *H* and a third, very recent photograph (2013) in which, for the first time, nudity and face could coexist. I also selected another unpublished image, also from 2013, which, not being printed on paper, is one of the photographs attached to the press release, making a total of 17 images.

Therefore, I considered that the title should refer to this upgrade, and thus Book v2.1 was born, leaving open countless other infinite variations.