Mara Vidal
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Work

Selected photographs

Scroll sideways through six pictures from the series below. Prints of most of them are available on request.

  • Molten metal pouring from a ladle inside a dark foundry, sparks across the floor, a worker's gloved hands at the edge of the frame.
    Heat, 2025
  • A dancer at the barre of a dim rehearsal room, head turned towards the window, the mirrored wall behind her falling into shadow.
    The Floor, 2023
  • Cracked river mud and a stranded mooring chain where the water has retreated, dark reeds at the edges.
    Low Water, 2023
  • Wet ropes and rusted bollards on a stone quay at night, a trawler's dark hull beyond them under one working lamp.
    First Light, 2025
  • The inside of a night bus, empty seats and rain-streaked windows, one passenger asleep against the glass.
    Night Lines, 2022
  • A joiner's hands guiding timber over a bench in a dim workshop, tools hanging in shadow behind.
    Commission, Alfama, 2024

Series

The series in full

Four bodies of work I keep coming back to. Each has been published or shown; ask me for the full edit.

  • Molten metal pouring from a ladle inside a dark foundry, sparks scattering, a worker's gloved hands steadying the trough.

    Heat

    Personal series, published by Expresso2024 - 2025

    Marinha Grande once had dozens of glass and iron works; a handful remain. I spent a winter and a spring with the crews of two of them, on the night shift mostly, when the furnaces light the whole hall. Twelve pages in Expresso Revista, and a small book in the works.

  • A dancer standing at the barre of a dim rehearsal room, head turned towards the window, sweat on her shoulders.

    The Floor

    Commission for a Lisbon dance company2023

    Eight months in the rehearsal studio of a contemporary company before a new piece opened at the Teatro São Luiz. I photographed almost none of the dancing; the pictures that stayed are the tired ones, between runs.

  • A man standing on cracked mud in the middle of a shrunken river, hands in his pockets, looking downstream under a heavy grey sky.

    Low Water

    Personal series, shown at Imago Lisboa2022 - 2024

    Three dry summers along the Tagus between Abrantes and Constância. Farmers walking on what used to be the riverbed, a ferryman with no crossing to make, and the long patience of people who expect the water back.

  • A fisherman in oilskins on a harbour wall before dawn, a single working lamp behind him throwing his shoulders into silhouette against black water.

    First Light

    Ongoing, with support from the Gulbenkian Foundation2025 -

    The hour before dawn in the harbour of Peniche, when the crews load ice and bait under a few working lamps. I go out with them once a month and stay ashore the rest of the time, at the auction and in the cafés.

Mara Vidal

Documentary and portrait photography from Lisbon, for editors and for families.

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© 2026 Mara Vidal. Every photograph on this site is mine; please ask before using one.