Malecón, 2024

Through photography, João Pina examines the intersections of history, memory, and political realities, creating a visual narrative that bridges the past and the present. His upbringing in Portugal, during the transition from dictatorship to democracy, shaped Pina’s acute understanding of political memory—how it is constructed, erased, and endlessly reinterpreted. This foundation drove his practice to use photography as both a reflective instrument and a tool of resistance, unearthing silenced histories, challenging dominant narratives, and grappling with the complexities of collective memory. Photographed in Cuba, Malecón is part of a long-term project to document and visually represent the last communist regime in the Western Hemisphere, showing its challenges, wonders and contradictions. João Pina is the recipient of the Portuguese Society of Authors Award for Photography in 2012 and the Estação Imagem Grand Prize in 2017. He exhibited Operation Condor at Reencontres d’Arles, Arles, (2017). His monograph, Tarrafal, was published by Tinta-da-China/GOST in 2024.