Playing Piano in the Castle

Tracy Wright Corvo

Presentations in the Castle

The castle of Estremoz, Pousada Rainha Santa Isabel, is the result of the restoration of the magnificent Palace that King D. Dinis built for his wife, Queen Santa Isabel.

Miracle of Roses, Santa Isabel

The story is that when challenged by her husband the king, Dom Dinis, about giving bread to the poor, Queen Isabel opened her basket and it miraculously contained only roses, not bread.

Saudade

Saudade is an interesting word I learned while being in Portugal and seems to gain new meaning everyday. It is not able to be directly translated to english. I've heard several interpretations. One of the best I read was it is the missing or yearning for something that is not yet known.

Fado

Fado is a Portuguese music style, generally sung by a single person (the fadista) along with a Portuguese guitar. The most popular themes of fado are saudade, nostalgia, jealousy, and short stories of the typical city quarters. Fado, and Saudade are two key and intertwined ideas in Portuguese culture. The word fado comes from Latin fatum meaning "fate" or "destiny". Fado is a musical cultural expression and recognition of this unassailable determinism which compels the resigned yearning of saudade, a bittersweet, existential yearning and hopefulness towards something over which one has no control.

Exhibition at the US Embassy, Lisbon Portugal

Last night I learned that now that the exhibitions in Estremoz are officially over, they have moved mine and the other Americans' work to be exhibited in the Embassy in Portugal. Thank you to Wes Carrington, the US Cultural Attache as well as Harold Naaijer, festival director, and Maria Joao Martins, press officer, for making this happen. I'm truly honored. Featured in the photo from left to right is British photographer, Tim Ashley and Wes Carrington at the Opening in Estremoz.

Photo by Irakly Shanidze

Agan

Photographer from Indonesia

Anastasia

Photographer from Moscow

Cafe Alentejano

The restaurant we are eating in every night.

Centro Ciencia Viva de Estremoz

Roughly 20 photographers and myself are staying here in this building that was once a Monastery, then a hospital and now part of a University. They have a geological museum as well. Very peaceful and calm.

Preparing for Portugal

International Photo Festival 2008, Portugal, Estremoz


10th - 28th September 2008
The Association to Promote the Art of Photography (APPAF) is organizing the 2nd Edition of the International Photo Festival, in Estremoz, Portugal. The festival has the support of several sponsors and partners, including Epson, Müller Martini, the University of Évora, the City Hall of Estremoz and the international photo galleries Le Pont Galerie (Syria), Underground Photo Gallery (Finland), Fotoloft (Moscow) and ArtBazar (Moscow). The event will take place between September 10th and September 28th, 2008 and will gather the participation of 25 foreign and Portuguese photographers.

Also, there will be lectures, master classes and workshops, as well as a cultural program with the purpose of involving the local community, artists and the festival’s visitors.

You can check on our website the biographies and works of the participating artists, the festival’s official program and obtain information on how to purchase our catalogue and attend the lectures, master classes and workshops.
http://www.appaf.eu