António Mil-Homens never leaves home without his camera. That’s how it has always been and how it will stay.
The exhibition of his work is the product of 10 years of his wandering through the city streets in search of the right moment to capture the essence and the spirit of Macau.
But curiously, it was in Lisbon that it his exhibition was first shown in 2007.
Now, The Venetian Macao is to host the exhibition which will give way to a trilingual book out this month.
The book has a limited edition and will be on offer while the stock lasts with this month’s Macau Business both in Macau kiosk and Hong Kong bookshops.
It will also be shipped to subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region.
“We are proud to be involved with this book which shows Macau through the eyes of a very talented photographer,” publisher Paulo Azevedo said.
“This is a very special 10th anniversary gift for our readers,” the Macau Business owner added.
The exhibition and the book are a joint initiative by De Ficção Multimedia Projects, publisher of Macau Business and Business Intelligence magazines, and the Portuguese association Casa de Portugal, sponsored by Sands China and the Macau Foundation.

Through the lens
António Mil-Homens genuinely loves Macau where he has lived on and off for several years before establishing himself here permanently 12 years ago.
His eye and camera bring us a deep human perspective of the city. Mil-Homens immersed himself in the genuine old neighbourhoods capturing the spirit and soul of Macau in 88 carefully selected black and white pictures.
“88 is a doubly-auspicious number,” he says, of the Chinese belief that number eight brings good luck.
However, the project began quite by accident: “Early pictures were taken as I walked through town and recorded everyday life with my camera. Later on I realised I had enough material to develop a more ambitious project.”

People focus
People are the common element running through all “Macau Forever” pictures.
This is not by chance, Mil-Homens says: “I like focusing on context and it’s a fact that I either start with the human element to show its context or the other way around.”
But people and place don’t always coincide at the right moment: “Sometimes I would have to wait for someone to show up or to be in the right spot before I could shoot,” he says.
The choice of black and white format was also intentional, as Mil-Homens’ wanted to capture the less obvious side of the city – as the neon lights, the colourful red Chinese lanterns and the casinos get much coverage.
“I wanted to stay away from all that,” he says. Then there’s is the weather, he recalls: “Macau is a gloomy town and I think that the black and white is a very good way to express that.”

The red glow
It would be fair to say that “Macau Forever” is a labour of love. It is a town seen through the eyes of an artist that reads deep into its soul and it certainly shows in his work.
 “People can feel it,” he says adding: “I never forget a curious remark from someone who at the exhibition in Lisbon said ‘how can black and white let the red of Macau show through?’”
The exhibition comes to Macau as the Special Administrative Region approaches its 10th anniversary, in December and coincidently portrays ten years of its life starting three years before its constitution as a SAR.
Both the book and the exhibition will be commissioned by painter Guilherme Ung Vai Meng, one of the most representative local artists.

by Paula Campos