Miguel Proença
Miguel Proença

NEWS

New book The Buzzer available for pre-order.
Shipping November 2025.

Le Jour il fait Nuit
22 Feb – 5 Apr 2025
Kubik Gallery, Porto

Adriana João, Anne Lefebvre, Cristiana Ortiga, Diogo Simões, Fala Mariam, Leonardo Martins, Mariana Maia Rocha, Marta Mateus, Miguel Proença, Pedro Leitão, Rui Moreira. Curated by André Cepeda with text by Eugénia Vilela.

Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca

© Kubik Gallery

© Kubik Gallery

© Kubik Gallery

© Kubik Gallery

© Kubik Gallery

EDO Fragilidade e Transitoriedade
21 Oct 2021 – 26 May 2022, 21:00
Instituto Português de Fotografia, Porto

Conversations on photography and community
supported by Criatório (Porto), Ricoh, and Sandeman
Read more

21 Oct – Decolonise/Re-Activate: Archives and Representation
with Awa Konaté and Ben Krewinkel, in conversation with Desirée Desmarattes

18 Nov – Photography and Social Activism
with Anthony Luvera

24 Feb – Female Body and Social Construction
with Haley Morris-Cafiero

24 Mar – Photography and the Community
with Jim Goldberg and Alessandra Sanguinetti

28 Apr – Photobook à La Portugaise
with Ana Catarina Pinho (Archivo), Susana Lourenço Marques (Pierrot Le Fou) and Tiago Casanova (XYZ Books) in conversation with Pablo Berástegui (Salut au Monde)

26 May – Commissioning Photography
with Josh Lustig (Financial Times)

 

Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca

© Teresa Nunes, IPF

© Teresa Nunes, IPF

© Teresa Nunes, IPF

© Teresa Nunes, IPF

© Teresa Nunes, IPF

© Teresa Nunes, IPF

WÜL Magazine, April 2021

Portfolio and words by Nastasia Khmelnitski

Youthies Magazine, May 2020

Behind the Hill published in The Folkloric Issue

Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca

Prix HSBC pour la Photographie 2020
Nominated to the 25th edition of Prix HSBC pour la Photographie by Fannie Escoulen.

MAPS Magazine, January 2020

Behind the Hill in MAPS Magazine, issue 140

Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca

Público P3, November 2019

Portfolio and words by Ana Maria Henriques

A Glitch in the System
14 – 17 Nov 2019
BASE, Via Bergognone 34, Milan

Curated by Alessia Glaviano and Francesca Marani

Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca

© Stefania Zanetti

© Stefania Zanetti

© Stefania Zanetti

© Stefania Zanetti

© Stefania Zanetti

Fiebre Photobook Dummy Award 2019

Shortlisted for Fiebre, the dummy will be exhibited during Fiebre Photobook Festival in Madrid from 25–27 October.
Miguel Proenca

Unseen Dummy Award 2019

The book dummy of my long-term project The Buzzer has been shortlisted, and can be seen at Unseen Amsterdam during the book market 19–22 September.
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca

© Lorenza Demata

© Lorenza Demata

© Lorenza Demata

© Lorenza Demata

Lens Culture, June 2019

Elastic Forms, Elastic Visions by Sophie Wright

The Photographers’ Gallery New Talent 2019
14 Jun – 6 Oct 2019
The Photographers’ Gallery, London

Join us on 18 July at 6PM to find more about the projects

Hero Magazine, June 2019

Meet Eight of Tomorrow’s Most Exciting Young Photography Talents by Stevie Cannel

The Photographers’ Gallery New Talent 2019

Curated by Karen McQuaid, on view at The Photographers’ Gallery from 14 June to 6 October 2019.

Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca

© Kate Elliot, The Photographers’ Gallery

© Kate Elliot, The Photographers’ Gallery

© Kate Elliot, The Photographers’ Gallery

© Kate Elliot, The Photographers’ Gallery

© Kate Elliot, The Photographers’ Gallery

Flash Forward 2019

Winners of the Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward 2019

Fotografia + Arquitectura
Álvaro Domingues, José Maçãs de Carvalho, Marta Ferreira, Miguel Proença, Sérgio Rolando
Escola Superior de Media Artes e Design (ESMAD), Vila do Conde

6 June, 15:00

in conversation with Ângela Ferreira

Another, May 2019

Ten Photographers to Have on Your Radar by Jacob Charles Wilson

Eating Pineapples on the Moon (Screening)
Opening of Riga Photomonth 2019

Kaņepes Culture Centre, Riga

15 May, 21:00

Creative Boom, April 2019

The Photographers’ Gallery reveals the eight artists it plans to support by Tora Baker

British Journal of Photography, February 2019

MACK First Book Award by Marigold Warner

MACK First Book Award 2019

Shortlisted for the MACK First Book Award, the dummy of my long-term project The Buzzer will be exhibited during Photo London from 16–19 May.
Miguel Proenca

Imagens do Real Imaginado – Fluxos
Pós-Academia: A prática artística posterior à formação
Biblioteca Municipal Almeida Garrett, Porto
30 October 2018, 15:30

in conversation with João Leal

Hiraeth, MA Documentary Photography
University of South Wales
Truman Brewery T4

91 Brick Ln, London E1 6QR

4–7 October 2018

It’s Nice That, August 2018

Portfolio and words by Billie Muraben

Source, August 2018

Graduate Photography 2018

BJP Fractured Stories, July 2018

Shortlisted for the British Journal of Photography + Ecotricity commission.

A Tension Span, MA Documentary Photography
University of South Wales
Ffotogallery

29 Castle St, Cardiff CF10 1BZ

11–14 July 2018

Miguel Proenca

RAVE Projeto 18
Escola Superior de Media Artes e Design (ESMAD)
Centro Português de Fotografia, Porto

7 Jul – 16 Sep 2018

Gulbenkian Foundation Scholarship, 2017

Recipient of a Gulbenkian Foundation Scholarship, awarded to support studies on the MA in Documentary Photography at the University of South Wales (formerly Newport).

Common Thinking (Screening)
BASE, via Bergognone 34, Milan

5 Jun, 21:00 – 01:00

Curated by Cesura for Milano PhotoWeek
with Lara Jacinto, António Pedrosa and Tommaso Rada

Christie’s Magazine, April 2017

Letters from Lisbon with Steven King

Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca

VSCO Artist Initiative, 2015

Recipient of the VSCO Artist Initiative Grant to develop a collective project on the EU borderlines.

Linha Ténue
Encontros da Imagem 2015
Museu de Arqueologia D. Diogo de Sousa, Braga

25 Sep – 31 Oct 2015

with Lara Jacinto, Antonio Pedrosa and Tommaso Rada
Curated by Pedro Leão Neto

Kingdom for a Stage – Contemporary Iberoamerican Photography
Fotoweek DC 2015
Hillyer Art Space, 9 Hillyer Court NW, Washington

6 – 28 November 2015

Curated by Susana Raab

Ain’t Bad, June 2015

Portfolio and words by Carson Sanders

FotoRoom, April 2015

Inside Cairo’s Necropolis Inhabited by Thousands of People

A Process
Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus
Maximilianstraße 48, 86150 Augsburg

28 Mar – 18 May 2013

Curated by Der Greif

Miguel Proenca
Miguel Proenca

© Der Greif

© Der Greif

OjodePez Magazine, April 2014

Behind the Hill published in OjodePez Magazine #36 from a selection of portfolio reviews at PHotoEspaña in Madrid and Latin America.

Miguel Proenca

Conscientious, May 2012

Nice words by Jörg Colberg: “It’s hard to pick just one photograph from Miguel Proenca’s Behind the Hill, but I figured this one would do. Faith and superstition (or rather their remnants) in the modern world.”

Estação Imagem 2012

Awarded first prize in the Daily Life category at Prémio Estação Imagem 2012. The jury was composed of Emilio Morenatti (NPPA), Frédérique Babin (Le Monde Magazine), Patrick Baz (Agence France-Presse), Marion Durand (Newsweek), and Arianna Rinaldo (OjodePez).

RAVE Projeto 11
Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo (ESMAE)
Centro Português de Fotografia, Porto

9 Jul – 11 Sep 2011

MAMLUK

Cairo, 2011

MAMLUK

Cairo, 2013

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INVENTÁRIO

Inventário is a collaboration with Museu de História Natural e da Ciência da Universidade do Porto (MHNC-UP) about the museum collections and its ongoing renovation process.

—
in collaboration with MHNC-UP/Colectivo, June 2016

INVENTÁRIO

Inventário is a collaboration with Museu de História Natural e da Ciência da Universidade do Porto (MHNC-UP) about the museum collections and its ongoing renovation process.

—
in collaboration with MHNC-UP/Colectivo, June 2016

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SALA DE FESTAS

Portugal, 2013–

SALA DE FESTAS

Portugal, 2013–

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BEHIND THE HILL

The birth of science was the death of superstition.
—Thomas Huxley (Darwin’s bulldog).

We always searched for answers.
Throughout history, through the ages, we have been continuously looking for ways to justify our existence, reasons to justify what our minds could not. Since ancient times, the idea of cosmos responded to the human need to rely on the order of nature and the world, that can link and put things in order. However, this concept evolved through different civilisations and eras, the dawn of monotheism gave ground to the divine.

Healers, men and women of faith, said to hold the cure for all ills, to have the answers to all concerns. Bearers of wisdom that ordinary mortals could envision without ever understanding. Today, they seem to have disappeared, driven into obscurity by the impetus of scientific progress, remain there, hidden from the gaze of modern world.

Behind the Hill documents the healer’s practice and its deep connection to the native landscapes and plants of northeastern Portugal. In the physical and mystical realm, scenes often relate to nature and superstition. Proença catalogues rituals, artefacts, and performances linked to the land—overlooked by the western cumulative model of resource exploitation. The project points to the ongoing tension between technology and the natural world, it also explores humanity’s enduring quest for answers beyond purely an empirical framework.

—

The series was exhibited during The New Talent (TNT 2019) at The Photographers’ Gallery (UK).

2011–2019

BEHIND THE HILL

The birth of science was the death of superstition.
—Thomas Huxley (Darwin’s bulldog).

We always searched for answers.
Throughout history, through the ages, we have been continuously looking for ways to justify our existence, reasons to justify what our minds could not. Since ancient times, the idea of cosmos responded to the human need to rely on the order of nature and the world, that can link and put things in order. However, this concept evolved through different civilisations and eras, the dawn of monotheism gave ground to the divine.

Healers, men and women of faith, said to hold the cure for all ills, to have the answers to all concerns. Bearers of wisdom that ordinary mortals could envision without ever understanding. Today, they seem to have disappeared, driven into obscurity by the impetus of scientific progress, remain there, hidden from the gaze of modern world.

Behind the Hill documents the healer’s practice and its deep connection to the native landscapes and plants of northeastern Portugal. In the physical and mystical realm, scenes often relate to nature and superstition. Proença catalogues rituals, artefacts, and performances linked to the land—overlooked by the western cumulative model of resource exploitation. The project points to the ongoing tension between technology and the natural world, it also explores humanity’s enduring quest for answers beyond purely an empirical framework.

—

The series was exhibited during The New Talent (TNT 2019) at The Photographers’ Gallery (UK).

2011-2019

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THE BUZZER

The Buzzer is a long-term photographic project that investigates the shifting identities and geopolitical fault lines of the post-Soviet space, focusing on the Baltic States and their complex relationship with Russia. Set primarily in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania between 2016 and 2018, the project examines how historical antagonisms between Russia and the West continue to unfold.

Through a combination of original photography, archival imagery, and extensive research, the work interrogates the transformation of these landscapes and societies under competing cultural and political influences. It documents military exercises, national celebrations, and everyday encounters across the region, while also delving into the parallel worlds of conspiracy theories, Russian propaganda, and echo chambers affecting public perception.

A key aspect of the project is the integration of archival materials—sourced primarily from the Estonian National Archives—which serve to reinforce the visual and historical ambiguity present throughout the narrative. These images highlight processes of acculturation and resistance across decades, showing statues raised and toppled, borders drawn and erased. By juxtaposing them with contemporary imagery, the work raises questions about the legitimacy of competing historical narratives and the construction of national identity.

The title, The Buzzer, alludes to a mysterious shortwave radio signal believed to be of Russian military origin—symbolic of the ghostly presence of a former empire and the unresolved tensions. The project situates the Baltic region as a geopolitical buffer zone, both historically and today. With references ranging from the medieval Battle on the Ice to present-day NATO operations, it explores how spaces, myths, and power are contested and reshaped.

Rather than offering a segmented or didactic narrative, The Buzzer weaves together multiple layers—past and present, fiction and fact, nostalgia and fear—ultimately reflecting on the fragile, evolving nature of identity in a landscape marked by surveillance, occupation, and resilience.

—

© National Archives of Estonia/Rahvusarhiiv for the archival images

In 2019 the book dummy was shortlisted for the MACK First Book Award, Unseen Dummy Award and Fiebre Dummy Award, being exhibited at Photo London (UK), Unseen Amsterdam (NL) and Fiebre Photobook Festival (ES).

2015–2019

THE BUZZER

The Buzzer is a long-term photographic project that investigates the shifting identities and geopolitical fault lines of the post-Soviet space, focusing on the Baltic States and their complex relationship with Russia. Set primarily in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania between 2016 and 2018, the project examines how historical antagonisms between Russia and the West continue to unfold.

Through a combination of original photography, archival imagery, and extensive research, the work interrogates the transformation of these landscapes and societies under competing cultural and political influences. It documents military exercises, national celebrations, and everyday encounters across the region, while also delving into the parallel worlds of conspiracy theories, Russian propaganda, and echo chambers affecting public perception.

A key aspect of the project is the integration of archival materials—sourced primarily from the Estonian National Archives—which serve to reinforce the visual and historical ambiguity present throughout the narrative. These images highlight processes of acculturation and resistance across decades, showing statues raised and toppled, borders drawn and erased. By juxtaposing them with contemporary imagery, the work raises questions about the legitimacy of competing historical narratives and the construction of national identity.

The title, The Buzzer, alludes to a mysterious shortwave radio signal believed to be of Russian military origin—symbolic of the ghostly presence of a former empire and the unresolved tensions. The project situates the Baltic region as a geopolitical buffer zone, both historically and today. With references ranging from the medieval Battle on the Ice to present-day NATO operations, it explores how spaces, myths, and power are contested and reshaped.

Rather than offering a segmented or didactic narrative, The Buzzer weaves together multiple layers—past and present, fiction and fact, nostalgia and fear—ultimately reflecting on the fragile, evolving nature of identity in a landscape marked by surveillance, occupation, and resilience.

—

© National Archives of Estonia/Rahvusarhiiv for the archival images

In 2019 the book dummy was shortlisted for the MACK First Book Award, Unseen Dummy Award and Fiebre Dummy Award, being exhibited at Photo London (UK), Unseen Amsterdam (NL) and Fiebre Photobook Festival (ES).

2015–2019

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SURFACE WORKERS MANUAL

Porto, 2019–

SURFACE WORKERS MANUAL

Porto, 2019—

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