Portugal –
Pearl* – “Hard object that grows around a grain of sand or other foreign matter as a defensive measure of certain molluscules.”
Pearl by Photography feature – Tiago Casanova is a project and book about Madeira Island, nicknamed as “The Pearl of the Atlantic”, a highly touristic place known for its Nature and its unique Laurisilva Forests. Madeira suffered countless transformations on its landscapes since its discovery on the XV century, being this project an analogy on how a pearl is created: a natural defensive reaction to external objects, in this case, introduced by Man.
I was intrigued by this phenomenon of natural transformation of a living being through the creation of a non-living hard object, that turns out to be a very rare and valuable object, referenced as an example of beauty. So, how subjective can beauty get when a bizarre defensive measure turns out to be a model of beauty?
This book is about this relation between the subjective senses of beauty and uglyness and how the line between both senses is so thin and insignificante, working on this specific place, the Pearl of the Atlantic.
