Interview by Rui Pastorin
By popular demand, a second volume of “O que foi, não volta a ser…” (“What Once Was, Will Never Be Again…”) came to fruition and was launched on Tuesday, continuing award winning Portuguese photojournalist and documentary photographer Gonçalo Lobo Pinheiro’s project that sees an encounter between Macau’s past and present.
Lisbon-born Lobo Pinheiro, who has been based in Macau for over 15 years, launched the first volume of his book in 2022, he told the Post during Tuesday’s launch ceremony. A collector of a variety old photos, Lobo Pinheiro’s collection includes images of old Macau.
While Lobo Pinheiro said the concept of taking photos in the style of what he is presenting is not a novel concept, he said that what differentiates both that project and the newly-released second edition is its context - Macau. “I saw my photos and said ‘why not?’” he said of the book’s first volume. And it proved popular.
“In the beginning, I only wanted to do one book”, he added, but with many asking for a second edition and experiencing “a good kind of pressure” for a new volume, he said: “Now after three years, I’m here again to launch the second edition with more images of Macau that weren’t in the first book”, with 40 images showcased in nearly 80 pages.
As with the first volume, each photo was taken while carefully measuring contact point while identifying places to precisely achieve the resulting blend of the past and present found across the images. While there were photos of places and settings that proved easy to take, there were also those that proved difficult to capture given how much the city has changed over the years, with some old photos even depicting places that no longer exist today.
Another hurdle came in the form of even acquiring the old photos. Aside from those in his own collection, old pictures of Macau, either in sepia or black and white, were obtained online, through auctions, from private owners, local shops, and even in Portugal, along with some that were lent to him, taking over a year to put together. But the challenge is part of what kept him going, giving him the vigour to do the work.
By the end of it all, he says he was glad to have the project in two volumes, both of which are “complementary to each other”, with the previous book being more related to heritage and monuments while more people are featured this time around. With that, the project is brought to its conclusion. “It is finished and I think I am very happy with the final result”.
The author hopes for his book to be “a document for future generations,” wanting to bring together pictures of a city that has changed a lot over the years and is still continuing to do so. At the same time, he wanted to provide a book that could serve as a comparison for both the past and present, as well as something for people who lived through old Macau to look back on, bringing back memories and some nostalgia. “If my photos create these kinds of emotions in people, I think I will be very happy with that”.
Supporting victims of the Tai Po inferno
Lobo Pinheiro’s projects have mainly gone towards helping non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other people most of the time. “I like to help people”, he said, with this particular book being no exception.
In the middle of its creation, a tragic incident took place in Hong Kong that made waves even outside of the region: the Wang Fuk Court inferno in Tai Po District that resulted in 160 deaths.
Contacting the Hong Kong branch of ‘Habitat for Humanity’, the total profit from the book sales along with the pictures sold from an ongoing exhibition the Rui Cunha Foundation (FRC) gallery, which features 20 out of the book’s 40 images, will be donated to them.
“For every single book or photo sold, the total amount is for them”, Lobo Pinheiro concluded.
Copies of the second volume of “O que foi, não volta a ser…” are priced at 250 patacas and can be bought from Lobo Pinheiro’s website on through www.goncalolobopinheiro.com as well as some bookshops.
*This story is a continuation of an article released yesterday, December 17, titled “2nd volume of ‘What Once Was, Will Never Be Again…’ launches in Macau”
(https://www.macaupostdaily.com/news/26930)
Gonçalo Lobo Pinheiro poses in front of two of the 20 photos exhibited at the Rui Cunha Foundation (FRC) gallery during Tuesday’s opening ceremony and book launch. – Photos: Rui Pastorin
