Rui Pedro Bordalo
Porto based photographer.
Born in Guarda, Portugal, in 1977.
Studied Architecture in Porto University Faculty of Architecture, in TUDelft and photojournalism in CENJOR.
Aligned with his background in architectural studies and his interest in environmental issues, his work addresses particular spatial conditions as support of everyday life, exploring the potential of photography to describe, represent and question architectural and natural spaces on a documental form.
On a definition of space inseparable of what matter is, he tries to contribute with photographic images to the comprehension of the space we inhabit, how we conceive it and how we build it.
Experimenting critical physical approaches to the space, the process of production of the photographs is based on the discovery of space's formal and symbolic dimensions, of the artificial and natural geometries, of the contrasts and balance provided by the light and by the weight, the lightness and the order present in spatial structures.
PROJECTS
2022 Shaping the city
A work in progress about some of the of the buildings designed by Siza Vieira and Souto de Moura in Porto. Two Pritzker prize architects, working and living in the same city, members of Porto School of Architecture, with parallel careers and shared experiences.
2022 Paradisum
A short essay revealing the diversity, complexity and beauty present in nature and the importance of protecting it.
2021 Economia, Viana de Lima
A project about the interior spaces of the Porto University Faculty of Economics design by Viana de Lima in the 1960's, expressing the balance and contrasts present in its architectural elements.
2021 Botanical Garden
The botanical garden is a remarkable example of a sustainable community living in a space that gives it support. This project represents a natural community of living beings, of diverse flora, in which every element coexists in a pacific, harmonious way, cooperating within complex relationships.
2021 Surfaces
An experimental exercise about the expression of colors, shades and light present in ordinary architectural surfaces.
2020 Window
Window is a work in progress series about the window as an architectural element. In the buildings of the Faculty of Architecture of Porto University, designed by the architect Siza Vieira, the window has a rich, strong and diverse expression; from the interior and the exterior we have the possibility to learn how to design and construct a window.
2020 The shape of a function
Inaugurated in the 80's of the past century in Porto, Shopping Center Stop has suffered several transformations on the way it has been used.
Nowadays and for a considerably number of years, gradually its comercial use has been transformed, to a great extent, into an industrial one. A kind of music factory.
More than 100 spaces are now occupied by music bands producing their projects.
This is a short series about flexibility and the resistance of matter.
2020 Portraits
An incursion into night nature portraiture.
2020 Architecture
The relationship between Architecture and its forms of representation is peculiar, powerful and absolutely critical even on a definition of Space inseparable of what matter is. The media that describe and represent it shape what we understand by architecture, how we conceive it and how we build it. On contemporary visual culture, the photographic image is a powerful and irreplaceable instrument of communication within the architectural cultural sphere.
2020 Távora I
A photographic essay about The Tennis Pavilion, in Quinta da Conceição, designed by the Architect Fernando Távora, mentor of Porto School of Architecture, in 1960.
2020 Paradisum
A photographic series shoot in Porto Botanical Garden, about the potential of photography to document in order to make visible and preserve Nature.
2019Vernacular
A commission by Olga Santos Gallery to document Torres Village, in Portugal, focusing on the traditional aspects of architectural expression and natural landscapes of the local built environment.
2019 Family Portrait
A commission by Olga Santos Gallery. The space of the gallery was photographed and the photographs of the space were exhibited in the gallery itself, amplifying the perception of the space, of the photographs and of the photographs in space.
2019 Inside Serralves Museum
Celebrating 30 years of existence of Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art designed by the architect Siza Vieira, this photographic series documents the architectural space as Art container and as Art itself.
2018 I3s Building
A series about the formal and tectonic expression of I3s Building, in Porto, designed by Serôdio and Furtado Architects in 2016.
2017 Hello Porto
A collection of photographs that unveils some of the most beautiful gardens and parks within the city of Porto.
2016 This is the Ocean A project with an environmentalist purpose, documenting the Atlantic Ocean in the city of Vila do Conde, in the north of Portugal, exposing its rare beauty and spreading images as words of alert to the importance of the conservation and preservation of the Oceans.
2014UnArchitecture
A short, dated manifesto about the specific portuguese context on wich architects question the need to redefine the limits of the architectural practice, on a time of economic crisis.
2014 The Image of the City
A photo-essay about the signs of transformation - from decadence and ruin to rebuilt, construction and reconstruction - of the city of Lisbon, in particular spaces and on a specific time, underlining the idea of the City as a living organism. 2013 Downtown Lisbon
A series about downtown Lisbon, its blocks and buildings, built after the 1755 earthquake's tabula-rasa.
2012 Shopping
A photo-essay about the state of suspension of a significant number of Porto shopping centers after a process of raise and decline of that particular typology.
2011 Architecture vs. Infrastructure
Architecture gives support to permanence and Infrastructure allows fluxes. This series documents their coexistence, sometimes pacific and sometimes abrupt, in an organized and planned space.
2009 Architecture Photography
A project that translates, on a naive way, Le Corbusier's definition of Architecture: "Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light."