Hasta La Ideas

What’s always killed me about working in offices, even ones filled with exciting design projects, is the crushing sameness of the environment. Day-in, day-out the walls never move, the lighting never changes. I’m certain my ancestors belonged to a nomadic tribe and that I’ve inherited their need for regular changes of scenery in order to feel productive.

This occurred to me while viewing Lisbon-based photographer Tito Mouraz’ “Open Space Office” project, a photo essay shot at a Portugese rock quarry. It took two years to complete, and the workers who toiled there got to see their “office” change regularly as they transformed the organic into the rectilinear and descended ever deeper into the earth.

The series presented here was shot in Portugal over a 2-year period and represents a transformed landscape that portrays the existence of Man as a constructive, reconstructive and contemplative being. The landscape appears completely and irreversibly transformed and it was this transformation that caught my eye and fueled my interest in conducting this project, basing it on this very landscape.

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