Study Trip: Lisbon, Portugal

I decided to keep all of my receipts from visiting Lisbon, and used them in my title page to recreate the tile design of the pavements I used to walk to different places and see different sights. I also included my own feet to make it clear that it was a sidewalk.

One of the first places we visited was the Church of Sao Domingos. I was especially drawn to the history of the building and how that resonated through the architecture. The ceiling seemed quite detached from the rest of the building as it had had to be rebuilt after a fire had burnt it down. The church had also survived an earthquake so it was quite powerful to be standing in such a setting.

Here is my take on a tile that I found in Lisbon. I used watercolour to reproduce the tile, and I found that the design took a lot more consideration and measurement in symmetry than I initially thought. I found it really interesting that for each of the many tiles I came across in the city, none were the same - they all had a variety of intricate and beautiful designs.

On the right is a primary sketch of one of Paula Rego's costume designs for the ballet 'There and Back Again'. The costumes were very strange and haunting, due to the models being birds, with daunting eyes. The museum dedicated to the artist was very interesting, however I would have liked to have seen some of her paintings in real life.

One of the many attractions in Lisbon was the abundance of friendly Tuk-Tuk drivers. The Tuk-Tuk was a great means of transport (despite reversing into a pedestrian)

I took with me on the trip my mother's 30 years old analog camera which I learnt to use on the trip, which was quite exciting! I have included a few images that I had developed from the film which I am quite pleased with. I was mostly interested in the architecture and the people of Lisboa.

Above are my final tile pieces. I decided to portray what stood out to me the most about Lisbon, using tiles which was something that I saw everywhere I went. The city of Lisbon was such a vibrant and colourful place, so I wanted to include this in my response to the city. I looked at architecture, graffiti, tile design and nature in Lisbon.