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Since the creation of the European Union (EU) one of the goal has been the unification of the different countries belonging to the EU and the abolishment of the frontiers between these countries. The Schengen treaty stipulated in 1985 have had the aims to gradually create an EU without borders, later in 1990 with the Schengen Agreement finally eliminate the borders between European countries allowing the free movement of people across the several European countries and the abolition of internal border controls.
The domestic border between Portugal and Spain, now – after the Schengen Treaty and with the European unification — is gone. Just mountains, rivers and imaginary historical lines, are what have left: a liquid frontier between two apparently distinct countries. The rivers, the mountains, the history trapped in the places define the communities, the interaction and the contacts between the people of two neighbouring countries, where the territory and the communities shape reciprocally around a specific space – physical, human and cultural – that get dissolved in the same rivers, mountain places that divide them. Empty of its political value, from a strange limbo made of controls and checkpoints the domestic borders become just a line on a map. The emptiness of the frontier, that have should fill of new life and new dynamics after the unification, get reflected in the territory, the time get stopped and while the world around is changing, on the border the space is assuming a proper physiognomy, and the time is sometimes frozen. “Domestic Border” become a route where each photos is a stop on the way, not searching for answer but interrogating the social reality, the relations between habitants and the territory and the meaning of Europe today. Domestic Border ends up being an unusual and unexpected trip, a dystopian portrait

About author:

Tommaso Rada is an Italian photographer currently living in the north of Portugal, in Braga. His works has been published in several magazines and newspapers such as Financial Time, Der Spiegel, Monocle, Popoli, Popoli e Missioni, Private online edition, Expresso, Helsingin Sanomat, Courrier International, Le Pelerin, Washington Post and Forbes Brazil. He collaborated with Unicef Mozambique, Comunità di Sant’Egidio and Habitat for Humanity Portugal.

Exhibitions
GuatePhoto, Collective Exhibition, Guatemala (2015)
Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival, Tbilisi, Georgia (2015)
Estação Imagem, Cordoaria Nacional, Lisbon, Portugal (2014)
Estação Imagem, CPF, Porto, Portugal (2014)
Estação Imagem, Cordoaria Nacional, Lisbon, Portugal (2012)
Estação Imagem, CPF, Porto, Portugal (2012)

Awards
Ideas Tap - Magnum Photos Photographer Funds - Longlist (2015)
IPA 2015 International Photography Award - Honorable Mention (2015)
ND Awards - 1st prize Editorial Sport (2015)
ND Awards - 3rd prize Editorial Photo Essay (2015)
MIFA - 3rd prize Sport (2015)
MIFA - 2nd prize Nature Pet (2015)
Fotovisura Grant For Outstanding Multimedia Project - Honorable Mention (2015)
Royal Photographic Society Print Exhibition - Finalist (2015)
Photon Valencia - Finalist / Valencia, Spain (2015)
Kolga Tbilisi Photo Award - Finalist / Tblisi, Georgia (2015)
Estação Imagem - 2nd prize in the "Contemporary Issues" category / Mora, Portugal (2014)
Berlin Month of Photography Portfolio Review - Finalist / Berlin, Germany (2014)
Photon Valencia - Finalist / Valencia, Spain (2014)
Monochrome Awards - Professional Photojournalism Category - Honorable Mention (2014)
Photocraty Fund - Finalist (2014)
International Revela Award - Finalist / Madrid, Spain (2014)
Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography Grant - Finalist (2014)
Estação Imagem - 1st prize in the "Environment" category / Mora, Portugal (2012)
AddRetouch Documentary Photography - Finalist / Madrid, Spain (2013)

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