João Coelho's documentary photographs take at the starting point, Angola, the country to which he returned after an absence of over 30 years. Fascinated by the human condition, João Coelho sets out in the footsteps of the lonely or forgotten, and portraits of the human condition, of joy or suffering, of strength or despair, are presented in projects with a remarkable message and strong visual impact.
Hello, João,
First of all, I would like to thank you for taking the time to tell us about you and your work in this interview.
To begin, where are you from? Please tell us about yourself and your passions.
I was born in Angola but spent most of my life in Portugal, where I moved during my adolescence. In Portugal, I graduated in Law and started my professional career, first as a lawyer and later in banking and finance. About 15 years ago I returned to Angola, embracing an opportunity to work on social development projects, although this decision was strongly influenced by an inner motivation: it was a response to a constant calling in my life to return to my roots, to the land that I abruptly left due to the war of independence in Angola. From very early on I felt a great attraction for various expressions of art, with special emphasis on painting, cinema, music, and photography. With photography naturally, first, these are the passions I still pursue in my free time.
What inspired you to approach photography? How did this journey start?
My interest in photography was born long before I could buy my first camera. I remember, as a teenager, spending several hours in bookstores devouring books about the great masters of photography and photography magazines. At that time there was no internet, and information was not just a simple click away. When I finally could buy my first camera it was as if a whole universe opened up before me. I have always been self-taught and have maintained to this day a great sense of self-criticism until I felt comfortable with the basic principles of photography and could fully concentrate on the scenes I wanted to capture. Today, this journey allows me to say that I consider the camera as an extension of my body and my senses, we are a single entity when we are in field shooting.
Have you focused on other subjects besides documentary photography? What, in your opinion, are the elements that differentiate documentary photography from street photography?
My first steps in photography were taken in portrait, landscape, and travel photography, having published some articles in Portuguese specialty magazines. My professional life kept me away from photography for more than 20 years until I felt an enormous desire to photograph the people of Angola and tell their stories through images. The environment in which I find myself, at a given moment, influences a lot of the photography I do. When I travel to Portugal to visit my family and don't have time to plan and develop documentary projects, I choose to explore more immediate aspects of photography, such as street, portrait, or conceptual. My personal experience in documentary photography allows me to identify some aspects that differentiate it greatly from street photography. First, my photography is not impersonal or distanced from the subjects I shoot, as is usually the case in street photography. As a rule, to faithfully tell people's stories or adequately document the scenes I shoot, I have to plan my fieldwork as if it were a project and establish some kind of previous communication with my subjects. The fact that in Angola there is a huge resistance to photography and the photographer also forces me to do it, because I have to establish some kind of empathy with my subjects previously for them to let me shoot while they are acting naturally. Secondly, there is clearly a narrative in my work that intends to convey messages of social or humanistic purpose, which is not often the case in street photography. Finally, although my documentary work may have an artistic side to it, in the way I compose the scenes and edit the images, there is greater objectivity in the subjects and stories that are conveyed than in street photography, where the perception of the narrative is usually left to the viewer.
Can you tell us about your photographic equipment (camera, lenses, lighting..)?
My current camera is a Canon EOS R5 and the vast majority of the time I use a 14-35mm lens because it allows me to capture scenes close to my subjects, a characteristic of my work. This lens and the R5's exceptional sensor allow me to do crops when I want to emphasize some particular aspects in wide shots and the perspective corrections that result from using a wide angle in close-up scenes without loss of quality. For situations when I want to shoot without being noticed or disturbing the scenes, or when I want greater isolation from the subjects, I rely on a 70-200mm lens. I avoid shooting in bright light or when there are strong contrasts between light and shadows, I prefer cloudy weather which allows me to add more impact and drama to my narrative and reveal more detail and light balance throughout the frame.
Your documentary photographs are based in Angola, the country you returned to after an absence of over 30 years. Have you always been drawn to documentary photography, or has your home country become the source of your inspiration and your photography the tool through which you reveal the visual stories of the ignored or forgotten?
Actually, it was the daily contact with people who literally live on the edge of survival that awakened not only my documentary photography but also my will and determination to shoot again after being away from photography for almost 20 years. I mentioned the determination because I had, at first, to overcome the fears of shooting in a country where criminality is very high and where one's own physical integrity can be at risk. I also had to develop techniques to get closer to people throughout time, so I could document scenes and portray people naturally, and preserve the genuineness and realism of their stories. Photography has thus become the ideal instrument for me to provoke emotions, and feelings and, perhaps most importantly, to convey messages about the inequalities and asymmetries that exist and persist in today's world.
Projects like "The Wrong Side of Freedom" or "The Iron Age", "Forbidden Dives" or "The Forgotten" are fascinating for their message, feelings, and emotions captured with great clarity through your camera. What do you think is your mission, what do you want to convey through your photographs?
These projects are, in fact, what I most enjoy doing and where I feel most fulfilled as a documentary photographer. Although a single image can indeed convey a story and arouse emotions and feelings in the viewer, in my projects I can go beyond that because there is a more structured narrative from which the messages I want to convey are more easily perceived. As you may have noticed, I always like to add text to my work, whether it is a simple image or a project. By the way, this is also a big difference between my documentary photography and street photography. I believe that in documentary photography this is important because it helps to understand the true story behind a particular scene or an entire project. It also allows me to convey what I myself felt when I was shooting, a set of emotions and feelings that are indelibly attached to a particular image. Although I already have about 3 years of experience dealing with strong scenes of survival or even despair in situations of great deprivation of people, there is always a huge emotional burden when I shoot them. I make it a point to convey that, it's like it's my mission not only as a photographer but also as a human being. I can say that my ultimate goal is to change things, to be able to contribute to diminishing the injustices and the enormous social asymmetries that still exist in the world and that could easily be eliminated.
Please share with us your favorite photographers you admire and how did they influence your photographic journey?
I can say that the photographers I most admire and who have influenced my most recent path in documentary photography were, without a doubt, Josef Koudelka and Sebastião Salgado. Both address documentary subjects that are very close to my heart, such as social and humanitarian issues, disadvantaged or marginalized communities, or life and work in very precarious conditions. Of course, Robert Frank, Dorothea Lange, and Robert Capa are also part of the range of authors with whom I most identify and who are inexhaustible sources of inspiration for me.
Impressive your project "The Prayer Meadow". Can you tell us a little bit about your way of work? Do you interact with the subjects in your photography or do you try to be as unobtrusive as possible?
This was a project whose execution was a total surprise for me and which implied a huge emotional weight. In the beginning, I thought it would be an impossible project to carry out, not only because religion is something very intimate in which the believer wants to be alone and not be disturbed by a photographer, but also because there were several religions and beliefs present in the place where the project was carried out. I can say that I took a huge risk in the beginning, interfering in scenes of huge spiritual surrender, not knowing how I would be received despite my careful approach. Interestingly, my presence was not only accepted but absolutely ignored by the people praying in that magnificent meadow, such was the level of immersion and dedication in their praying. I was literally just a few feet away from some of the believers and they didn't even notice my presence, which not only allowed me to get as close as I wanted but also made me experience a whole range of emotions that were absolutely indescribable. It was indeed a unique experience for me as a photographer and as a human being.
Which of your own project do you prefer and why? Please tell us the story behind it.
Although I have given myself body and soul to all my projects, there is one that stood out for its significance and for what I want to achieve with it. I am referring to the project I called "The Forgotten", about a community that lives and works in a dump on the outskirts of a city in southern Angola. Shooting these people who live on the edge of survival and in such adverse conditions, truly abandoned and forgotten by the rest of the world, has completely changed my view of the world and the way I position myself in it. They received me as if I were a member of their family, openly, sincerely, and without wanting anything in return despite their extreme poverty. Here, too, I did not feel any kind of insecurity, as if these people were totally devoid of greed or malice. The conditions in which they live and work touched me deeply, which led me to look for some way to try to help them. To accomplish this, I have designed a project, which is still ongoing, that aims to provoke the interest of individuals and organizations through my photographic work, in an attempt to achieve three major objectives: to provide the community with water by drilling a borehole, to set up a field school for the children, and to ensure regular visits from a doctor. The project intends to document the before and after through exhibitions and the publication of a book, and thereby demonstrate that it is possible to improve the living conditions of people in need through photography. Eventually, the results of this pilot project may be replicated for other similar communities.
How do you imagine the evolution of your artistic work and your figure as an artist in the future?
My journey in documentary photography is intimately connected to the issues and subjects of Angola, where I currently live and work. If everything goes well from a professional point of view, I intend to continue exploring the social and humanistic side of documentary photography in Angola. As I mentioned before, my connection to the projects I do in photography goes far beyond the mere aesthetic or artistic sense, there is a great emotional charge in them and a strong personal commitment when I carry them out. In the short term, I intend to start some projects that I have been maturing and finish "The Forgotten", which includes the publication of a book and possibly some exhibitions. Only the future will tell if I will accomplish all the goals of this ambitious project, as I would like to. Going a bit out of my comfort zone, I have a great interest in exploring analog photography, but more focused on portraiture and conceptual. It's something that has been appealing to me for some time, we'll see where that will take me.