The end of enclosure: a study on the last years of operation of the old jail of Ponte De Lima

Resumen

The object of study of this project focuses on the need to document imagetically the last years of operation of the old jail of Ponte de Lima. During the research process, we verified the existence of a gap in the information about the experience of being imprisoned in the 1950s and 1960s. By remembering the past, the collection of various pieces of information has been made with the main goal of obtaining testimonies and capturing images to build an estate on the experiences lived by Ponte de Lima’s community in this context. After the collection and treatment of all obtained data, it has become fundamental to showcase the conducted research through a photographic and videographic exhibition, where it was possible, in a semiotic perspective, to inform the community about the space and experiences of seclusion in the portrayed time. In this investigation it was possible to analyze and apply the fundamentals of image design, enhancing and contextualizing the role of visual communication in contemporary society. The use of image was imperative in this process in order to consolidate what was dispersed in the collective memory, and thus historically perpetuate the value of the message conveyed imagetically.