MARGARIDA CORREIA'S PHOTOS OF PARKVILLE RESIDENTS TRAVEL TO LISBON, PORTUGAL

Manuel Gaspar, 2009, c-print, 20"x 25"

At the Museu da Electricdade, Lisbon, Portugal
Through September 18, 2011

Hartford, Connecticut - A collection of photographs of Portuguese residents of Hartford's Parkville neighborhood, New World Parkville, is now on display at the Museu da Electricdade in Lisbon, Portugal. Taken by artist Margarida Correia in 2009 while she was developing a Hartford-specific public artwork for Real Art Ways, these photographs have never been shown in a gallery exhibition until now.

While in Hartford working on her public art project, also called New World Parkville, Correia worked closely with the Portuguese community in Parkville, photographing their daily lives.

Those photographed included Manuel Gaspar, João Alves (son of Fado singer Maria Alves), church volunteer Adelaide Vida and Hartford’s folklore group. Correia listened to their stories and documented their personal archives: vintage photographs, scrapbooks and music collections from the '30s to the '80s.

New World Parkville in Hartford originally presented those personal archives of vintage photos and record albums on banners along Park Street while their music collections played in a sound installation at local stores. A billboard with a photograph of Praia da Nazaré – a traditional and iconic beach on the west cost of Portugal – was placed at the entrance of the neighborhood. This beach was repeatedly mentioned by the community as being the strongest photographic memory they have from Portugal.

The new exhibition in Lisbon, which shows the faces behind Correia's 2009 Hartford banners, will be on display through September 18, 2011.

About Margarida Correia
Born in Lisbon in 1972, Margarida Correia lives and works in New York. She obtained her MA degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York, her Licentiate degree in Painting from the Faculdade de Belas-Artes of the University of Lisbon and a BA degree in Visual Arts from the Escola Superior de Artes e Design de Caldas da Rainha, Portugal.

Her first solo exhibition, Shining, took place at the Faculdade de Belas-Artes de Lisboa (1998). More recently, she presented Ofício at the Museu de São Roque, Lisbon (2010) and New World Parkville at Real Art Ways (Hartford, US, 2009). Relevant group exhibitions include Gallery Registered, White Columns (New York, 2009), Hanging Out at No Rio, ABC No Rio (New York, 2009), Portrait Show, Vermont Center for Photography (Vermont, US, 2008), In the Country of Last Things, Galeria Aferro (New Jersey, US, 2008), How Soon is Now?, Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York, 2008).

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