Tiago Casanova photographs the changing landscape of “The Pearl of the Atlantic”

Pearl is a project and book about Madeira Island, nicknamed as “The Pearl of the Atlantic”, a highly touristic place known for its nature and its unique Laurisilva Forests. Madeira suffered countless transformations on its landscapes since its discovery on the XV century, being this project an analogy on how a pearl is created: a natural defensive reaction to external objects, in this case, introduced by man.

Tiago Casanova was intrigued by this phenomenon of natural transformation of a living being through the creation of a non-living hard object, that turns out to be a very rare and valuable object, referenced as an example of beauty. This book is about this relation between the subjective senses of beauty and ugliness and how the line between both senses is so thin and insignificant, working on this specific place, the Pearl of the Atlantic.

Tiago Casanova studied Architecture at FAUP (Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto) since 2006, when his interest in photography and architecture began. Currently he is one of the editors of XYZ Books and co-founded A Ilha in 2014. Collaborates with several institutions as an exhibition designer, and has designed in 2016 the exhibition “Eyes Wide Open – 100 Years of Leica Photography” at Galeria Municipal do Porto.Represented by Galeria Carlos Carvalho in Lisbon. Based in Lisbon and Porto. Pearl is one of the photographic researches selected by Domusweb among the Gabriele Basilico Prize in Architecture and Landscape Photography 2018 candidates. The Prize intends to support the growth of visual languages in photography among a new generation of artists.