IMAGO LISBOA PHOTO FESTIVAL

The family in today's society
The origin and definition of the word family is not consensual. In wikipedia we find as meaning "an invisible set of functional requirements that organizes the interaction of its members, also considering it as a system that operates through transactional patterns". It seems to us to be a very comprehensive and satisfactory meaning in the framework of the contemporary family mutations, contrary to the definition suggested by Claude Lévi-Strauss. That French anthropologist suggests that "family is born as soon as there is a marriage, so that there are spouses and children of their union". In our view, this is an outdated meaning insofar as marriage, although it is a sacrament in most cultures, and where we can include other mating rituals, no longer represents the exclusivity of the genesis of family ties. With the evolution of today's society, new family configurations have been generated. It is true that single-parent families mostly result from the rupture of a marriage, but they also arise from the possibility of a woman bearing a child independently. Likewise, the rainbow family, consisting of a homosexual couple with or without one or more dependent children, does not necessarily require marriage.
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There is the stereotype of the happy family that coexists in harmony, but there is also the dysfunctional family, or the one where, for various reasons, hatred is generated. Situations of dysfunctionality are countless, but we can't resist recalling Greek mythology in the figure of Erigone, the daughter of Aegistus and Clytemnestra. Legend has it that after Agamemnon goes to Troy, Clytemnestra, his wife, becomes Egistus' mistress. When Agamemnon returns, Egistus and Clitemnestra murder him and then marry. Agamemnon and Clitemnestra's children, Electra and Orestes, decide to avenge their father and take back the kingdom, which leads them to murder Egistus and their own mother. But the horror goes further, when Orestes rapes his half-sister, the beautiful Erigone, with whom he ends up falling in love.
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Thus, we truly believe that in the family, whatever it may be, the common denominator is effectively based on a functional structure that manages the interaction of each of its members.
We are aware that there are many other possibilities for mapping loving and family relationships. However, we believe that through this narrative we attain enough material for discussion and reflection around the theme chosen by the festival.
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Rui Prata​

Selected :
Alla Dolgaleva - Echo of My Childhood
Annette LeMay Burke - Memory Building
Catherine Panebianco - No Memory is Ever Alone
Charlotta María Hauksdóttir - A Matter of Some Moments
Diana Velasco - Family Album II, 2018
Fred Hüening - Drei - Them and Me
Haakon Sand - Twins Forever
Johan Bävaman - Swedish Dads
Jorge Fuembuena- Wood Stories
Katrin Jacket - Business
Ksenia Kuleshova - Ordinary People
Schore Mehrdju - The Second
Simone Rodrigues - The Names of Love
Susanna Kekkonen - Family Album
Younes Mohammad - The untold story of families