NOSSA SENHORA DA NAZARÉ
by Gianfranco Gallucci
portfolio shortlisted call 'Urbanautica Institute Awards 2023', 2023
Category: Memories and Traditions
"A land where there are two colors: the white of the houses and the black of the widows' clothes"
- Alves Redol, in A Nazaré na Obra de Alves Redol, May 1980
And so it is, the first thing that struck me after having put my foot on the ground for the first time in this traditional fisher village, now known for its record breaking waves, hitting its coast: Nazaré.
With a mother and father from the South of Italy, it undeniably comes natural with my nationality to feel a deep sense of familiarity and home, seeing these women through every street, veiled in the traditional mourning ritual of clothing, or their representative "seven skirts".
Beyond the fact that Nazaré's origin springs from the Holy Mary itself, this place is dominated by the force of its women, visually reflecting the identity of Southern European's culture, transversal and common to so many Mediterranean countries, destined to disappear.
also from Urbanautica Institute Awards 2023