Being the fruit of a remarkable mutual effort and a true strength of will, the cultural, sports and recreational associations survive in most cases due to the strong social relationships among their members (which may include just a small group of friends or even the whole population of a given site); this way they always develop their specific form of intervention inside their own territory.

Having always in mind an overwhelming willingness to produce and consume culture, entertainment and sport, these, however, can’t help being, given a great number of factors, the culture, the entertainment and the sport one can get. Besides, these associations have a poor financial support; many of them have no access to any money resources and hold on to what is brought from one’s own home or the solidarity of those that belong to them.

It was during the second half of the nineteenth century that, as well as all over the country, the idea of entertainment associations appeared to a large extent in Alentejo; however this spirit of mutual aid among communities on the edge comes from the ancient times, when they defended their frontiers of survival underneath a weather not always easy to support.

Thus, it is crucial to explore this reality as a photographic subject and, by entering in touch with people come to understand in what way modern needs and new generations deal with what has been passed to them by their land and by their culture.

My purpose as candidate to the grant ESTAÇÃO IMAGEM |  MORA 2011, is to develop a project, under the title LEAN CULTURE, intended to document associations at Mora in their cultural, sports and recreational aspects and work side by side with the people that keep their spirit alive despite so many hardships.

Paulo Alegria
April 2011