The exhibition will feature 25 original photographs by the photographer António Duarte Mil-Homens, taken in 1999 as part of Revista Macau’s coverage of the various moments of the transfer process, as well as part of the photographs appearing in the book by José Pedro Castanheira, a journalist from Expresso, “Macau: The last 100 days of the Empire” – Livros do Oriente and Don Quixote.
The 25 images illustrate three moments of the process, the first section showing moments such as the last meeting of Governor Rocha Vieira’s Consultative Council; or the last solemn session of the Leal Senado of Macau and other official ceremonies, such as the unveiling of a plaque in the Grotto of Camões, in the garden with the same name, or the presentation of the first Consul-General of Portugal in Macau and Hong Kong, Ambassador Carlos Frota.
A second segment includes photographs relating to the transfer ceremony, symbolically marked by the lowering of the flags of Portugal and the Leal Senado of Macau and the raising of those of the People’s Republic of China and the new Special Administrative Region of Macau; speeches by the President of the Republic of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio and the President of the People’s Republic of China, Jiang Zemin, among other moments.
Lastly, some images of the festivities held in the city’s streets appear, such as the entry into the territory of the People’s Liberation Army contingent and the popular parade that followed, illustrating the beginning of a new era in Macau, with the creation of the MSAR.
The photographs that make up this exhibition simply aim to remember, 25 years later, the events that marked the transition.
They are historical, unrepeatable documents, originated in analog format film, therefore, with the “technical quality” impaired by contingencies, with many thousands of rolls of film to be developed, essentially those of the official ceremony. Hence the apparent “grain”, a distinctive mark of many photographic works of the time.
