OrientaLX

The ERRAR conference and the OrientaLx exhibition are two activities co-produced by Procurarte and Lusófona University that, using photography and the Eastern area of Lisbon, articulate critical thinking and artistic practice in a complementary and coherent proposal.
OrientaLx is the public and artistic component: an exhibition that reinterprets the Eastern side of Lisbon through the work of three international photographers in artistic residence — Georgs Avetisjans (LT), Louisa Boeszoermeny (DE) and Sónia Hamza (FR). Held in partnership with the Marvila Library, it is part of Os Dias de Marvila.

ERRAR is the critical thinking component: a conference that invites photographers to explore drifting, experimentation and the productive potential of error, seeing photography as a continuous practice of movement and doubt. It features interventions by Francesco Careri, Florian Schneider, Joan Fontcuberta and Paula Roush.
Together, the two initiatives propose the same gesture: to use photography and territory as a starting point for a broader reflection on the image, flânerie, and the city as a constantly changing social kaleidoscope.

Georgs Avetisjans

1950 -
Chelas Till I Die

This work aims to capture the essence of Chelas: it is a visual melody painted with light through the lens of the camera, within the architecture of the neighbourhood and its vibrant and ethnically diverse, where fado and hip-hop culture intertwine. The rhythm, the lyrics and the pain resonate through the walls of the buildings, where the emotional narratives of both genres resonate deeply within the structures of the neighbourhood. This is the story of a neighbourhood that has several neighbourhoods within a neighbourhood and presents itself as an urban landscape, densely populated by working-class people, fostering a movement centred on self-identity and connection to the neighbourhood. Despite social segregation, Chelas is a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities where residents actively share their experiences and have a collective bond that promotes happiness, mutual enrichment and pride in their roots.

Sonia Hamza

The Neighbourhoods Lisbon Refuses to See Portraits of Buildings in the City’s Shadow

This black-and-white photographic series explores the working-class neighbourhoods of western Lisbon, far from the tourist routes, the colourful façades, and the luminous image usually associated with the city. Through highly contrasted images, I create portraits of housing blocks. These architectures, often perceived as marginal, unattractive, or pushed aside, are here looked at directly. The intention is not to reduce them to poverty, but to restore their presence, strength, and dignity. These imposing buildings become silent witnesses to ordinary lives, collective memories, and communities too often kept at a distance from the city’s official narrative. The shadows of trees, façades, and neighbouring buildings sometimes cover these living spaces, as if the city were trying to conceal what it does not wish to see. Shadow then becomes a metaphor for erasure: that of neighbourhoods pushed to the edge of visibility, regarded as a nuisance, an anomaly, almost a source of shame within Lisbon’s idealised landscape. The choice of black and white heightens this tension. It reveals the graphic power of the architecture while evoking a form of withdrawal, a loss of colour and therefore, symbolically, of life in these forgotten areas. Yet rather than erasing these places, contrast makes them emerge. It gives them intensity, monumentality, and visual legitimacy. This series questions what a city chooses to show or to hide. It affirms that these neighbourhoods also deserve to be brought into the light — not as social backdrops, but as inhabited, sensitive, powerful territories, carrying stories and presences. To photograph these buildings as portraits is to resist their erasure and to restore visibility to those who live on the margins of Lisbon’s narrative.

Louisa Boeszoermeny

Inside out

This project captures the intimate spaces of residents in Lisbon’s East End and aims to highlight their diverse narratives and experiences, offering a counter-narrative to the growing far-right sentiment across Europe.

By being invited into their homes, Louisa creates a space for dialogue and understanding, highlighting the importance of personal stories in a time of increasing division. Using a medium format analogue camera allows her to slow down the process, fostering a deeper connection with her subjects and their environment. Each photograph serves as a testament to the resilience and richness of the cultural identities that thrive in these homes, challenging the stereotypes often perpetuated by mainstream media.
At a time when many feel marginalised or threatened by political change, this project seeks to humanise those who are often ignored in social narratives

Procur.arte
R. Neves Ferreira 8B, 1170-274 Lisboa