João Miguel Barros

Born in Lisbon and a resident of Macau for over 30 years, João Miguel Barros is best known as a lawyer and a passionate collector of photobooks. A former co-director of SEMA magazine in Lisbon, his first solo exhibition took place in 2017.

A dominating feature in João Miguel’s photography is his aesthetic and technical precision – his use of chiaroscuro to direct the viewer’s gaze, bringing the smallest detail into focus and in turn, magnifying the essence of his subjects.

“My choice to work in black and white is based on the rawness of pure black, which, when it comes down to it, is the total absence of colour, on the various shades of grey, on the contrast with the white and on the need to express myself through the essence of things. […] My work is to freeze the moment, certain moments that we may not even notice in our real lives and try to project it and imbue it with an importance that allows the person seeing the final image to interpret it freely.” – João Miguel Barros

Read João Miguel’s issue of the Photo London magazine here.