"Popular Photoperformance" exhibition by visual artist Alex Oliveira

O PORTO Space in São Paulo (SP) inaugurates the exhibition Popular Photo Performance, by the visual artist Alex OliveiraAs part of the program, Oliveira will also hold a six-day workshop culminating in an urban intervention in the Monte Azul favela. Information on Instagram. @portodecultura.

The exhibition presents a selection from the series developed by the artist since 2019 in different Brazilian cities. In the work, passersby, street vendors, self-employed workers, friends, and the portraitist himself occupy improvised studios set up in streets, open-air markets, and squares to perform mobile identities in front of the camera. Originally from Jequié (BA), Alex Oliveira works as a photographer, visual artist, and filmmaker, developing research that articulates photography, popular culture, and performativity.

Alex Oliveira creates frontal portraits that engage with both studio photography and the spontaneity of the street. The central tension of the series arises precisely from the contrast between the precariousness of the photographic device and the rigorous formalization of the image, shifting the social status of the portrait produced in urban spaces.

The project also proposes an expanded circulation of the images. After each photo session, participants receive printed copies of their portraits in postcard format, while some of the images return to the area in the form of posters installed on the very streets where they were taken.

Since 2025, images from the Fotoperformance Popular series have been part of the Fonds Brésilien de Photographies Contemporaines collection at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Currently, some of the works can be seen at the Sorbonne Art Gallery in Paris.

As a follow-up to the exhibition, Alex Oliveira will lead the workshop "Photoperformance: Body, City and Action," lasting six days and totaling 24 hours. At the end of the activities, participants will install the posters produced during the classes in the Monte Azul favela, in an action carried out in partnership with the Sérgio Silva Gallery. The registration fee is R$ 980.

Exhibition | Popular Photo Performance
From June 6th to August 8th
Wednesday to Friday from 14 PM to 18 PM and weekends by appointment.