Viva a Liberdade
"A poesia está na rua" [Poetry is in the streets). The famous phrase coined by the poet Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen encapsulating the spirit of the 25 April 1974 Revolution would be taken up by the people who celebrated freedom in the streets and, later, immortalised by the painter Maria Helena Vieira da Silva in a set of iconic posters rendered in her distinctive visual language.
In the year in which the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution is celebrated, we revisit here ten images by the celebrated photographer Alfredo Cunha captured
in the moments following the revolution. These historic documents, created from the photographer's watchful gaze, reveal the city as a place of protest and freedom of expression. They portray the struggle for democracy based on protest posters spread across the city's walls and the new relationship between its citizens and the urban space. Those same people who, months before, had chanted in unison in the streets for the end of the dictatorship.
The act of photographing is also a revolutionary act. And Alfredo Cunha chose to point his camera at children, women, and men, surprising and capturing the human side of the post-revolution period. Due to censorship and the one-party system, the production of posters in Portugal before the revolution was very limited. Posters convey ideas and public messages using direct, intelligible language, they use inventive graphics to reach as many people as possible. As a platform focused on the urban arts, Underdogs elevates and promotes the plurality of poetry in the streets of the cities which, both in Portugal as in many other nations around the world, is closely connected with democracy.
In this exhibition, we look at Alfredo Cunha's photographs from the point of view of Portugal in 2024. From contemporary Lisbon, endowed with a multicoloured social and urban landscape. Everywhere we see posters that celebrate the city's cultural diversity, publicise parties and meetings, illustrate concerts, plays, and exhibitions.
In addition to their artistic expression, diverse graffiti works and murals are inscribed in the landscape as acts of resistance. Advertising benefits from the free competition of capitalism. Posters criticise contemporary local and global issues. Slogans praise and reject political parties. Communication in the city of Lisbon is a human expression imprinted on its streets.
We carry on clamouring: 25 April always!
A rallying cry of the people who created, and continue to create, urban poetry.
"A poesia está na rua" [Poetry is in the streets). The famous phrase coined by the poet Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen encapsulating the spirit of the 25 April 1974 Revolution would be taken up by the people who celebrated freedom in the streets and, later, immortalised by the painter Maria Helena Vieira da Silva in a set of iconic posters rendered in her distinctive visual language.
In the year in which the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution is celebrated, we revisit here ten images by the celebrated photographer Alfredo Cunha captured
in the moments following the revolution. These historic documents, created from the photographer's watchful gaze, reveal the city as a place of protest and freedom of expression. They portray the struggle for democracy based on protest posters spread across the city's walls and the new relationship between its citizens and the urban space. Those same people who, months before, had chanted in unison in the streets for the end of the dictatorship.
The act of photographing is also a revolutionary act. And Alfredo Cunha chose to point his camera at children, women, and men, surprising and capturing the human side of the post-revolution period. Due to censorship and the one-party system, the production of posters in Portugal before the revolution was very limited. Posters convey ideas and public messages using direct, intelligible language, they use inventive graphics to reach as many people as possible. As a platform focused on the urban arts, Underdogs elevates and promotes the plurality of poetry in the streets of the cities which, both in Portugal as in many other nations around the world, is closely connected with democracy.
In this exhibition, we look at Alfredo Cunha's photographs from the point of view of Portugal in 2024. From contemporary Lisbon, endowed with a multicoloured social and urban landscape. Everywhere we see posters that celebrate the city's cultural diversity, publicise parties and meetings, illustrate concerts, plays, and exhibitions.
In addition to their artistic expression, diverse graffiti works and murals are inscribed in the landscape as acts of resistance. Advertising benefits from the free competition of capitalism. Posters criticise contemporary local and global issues. Slogans praise and reject political parties. Communication in the city of Lisbon is a human expression imprinted on its streets.
We carry on clamouring: 25 April always!
A rallying cry of the people who created, and continue to create, urban poetry.