The announcement of the death of Augusto Alves da Silva on August 11, following a prolonged illness, was made by the photographer’s family in a statement.
The wake will be held on Tuesday from 11:00 a.m. at the funeral chapels of the Church of Santo Condestável in Campo de Ourique, Lisbon, with the funeral proceeding to the Alto S. João cemetery.
However, it is noted that by Augusto Alves da Silva’s own wish, the ceremony will be reserved for family and close friends only.
In a statement of mourning posted on Instagram, the public company Museums and Monuments of Portugal remembered Augusto Alves da Silva as “one of the most prestigious and recognized Portuguese photographers.”
According to the announcement shared by the State Collection of Contemporary Art (CACE) page, the photographer was highlighted for “developing documentary and critical thinking projects that marked the art scene and accompanied the history and sociopolitical context in which they were created.”
“Many of his images became iconic, either because of the artistic dimension of his vision or because of the themes and concerns that motivated his photographic practice. Starting from a realistic perspective, attentive to social and political reality, his photography revealed an irony in its approach and a conceptual rigor that transcended the visible.”
His images, described as “very unique,” were “essential in the process of establishing photography in the artistic space and will be projected into the future as testimony to a profound reflection on aspects of contemporary existence,” add the two organizations.
Born in Lisbon in 1963, Augusto Alves da Silva stood out as one of the most important artists, who, although not working exclusively in photography, created some of the most significant works in the Portuguese art context of the last twenty years in this medium.
He studied at the London College of Printing and the Slade School of Fine Art, having previously attended the Civil Engineering course at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, which he did not complete to dedicate himself full-time to photography.
Augusto Alves da Silva received two scholarships from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and was nominated for the Latin Union Award in 1997.
In 1999, he was a finalist for the Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize and in 2006 for the BES Photo Prize.
His work is currently represented in the Serralves Museum, the National Museum of Contemporary Art – Chiado Museum, CACE, the Portuguese Center of Photography, and the Modern Art Center of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
The photographer also leaves work in the Helga de Alvear collection, the MEIAC – Museo Extremeno e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporaneo, the former BES collection, the Luso-American Foundation for Development, the PLMJ Foundation, the Fundacio Foto Colectania, and the António Cachola collection, among others.
In recent years, Augusto Alves da Silva lived and worked in Tremez, Santarém.
