A world that speaks in your ear
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Dates2022 - Ongoing
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Author
- Location Melgaço, Portugal
In northern Portugal, between the Minho river and the mountains, there is an area where history and legends merge. From voice to voice myths survive the centuries. Men die, but they remain.
Melgaço is a space with strong cultural identity, recognized for its folklore and a unique landscape, where two elements are almost always related, water and the feminine. These are necessary for the fertility of the valley and are irreplaceable references in the imagination of Alto Minho.
Myths, superstitions, tales and legends are an undeniable part of our common culture. This memory-based knowledge is a vestige of the past, manifests in the way how people live in society and changes their perception of the world. They aim at inserting their listeners into a common belief that transports everyday experience to the fantastic realm, deep down they are like dreams showing us worlds that are not of this world. This spiritual heritage is uprooted in the culture of the Portuguese man and usually appears hidden in rural areas, far from speeds and progress, where people live in deep connection with the natural world.
From voice to voice they surpass centuries, men die but they remain. In the end they are a way for human beings to overcome death and narrow their distance with the afterlife, and they are a form of reality for those who live them. In truth, they are timeless stories that explore our desires, our fears, our hopes and translate into narratives that remind us of what it means to be human.
This project is the result of a collection of narratives from this region coming directly from the heart and mouth of the people themselves and more than seeking to create awareness about the liveness of these metaphors, it intends to reflect on their cultural dimension and their social value.
Although wrapped in simplicity, these narratives have a much deeper content, they bring lessons of wisdom and messages about ways to face human finitude. They arise from the need for an explanation about the course of events and constitute man's spiritual yearning to try to know and master the mysteries of the universe.
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