Revelação is an annual prize for young photographers, which has been awarded jointly by Novo Banco and Serralves since 2005. In 2024, after a period of almost 20 years during which it was awarded each year to artists who were either Portuguese citizens or residents in Portugal, it was decided to change its format; the prize now transcends geographical borders and nationalities, and since then has resulted in exhibitions at the Serralves Museum displaying alternately the work of a Portuguese and a foreign artist, accompanied by the publication of a book. This year’s novobanco Revelação presents the work of the Brazilian photographer Helena Ramos (São Paulo, 1999), selected by Philippe Vergne, director of the museum, Inês Grosso, the museum’s chief curator and Ricardo Nicolau, the curator and assistant to the museum’s director, following our analysis of dozens of portfolios of artists nominated by an international committee consisting of curators and artists working in the field of photography. Helena Ramos’ work was notable for its simultaneously documentary, affective and experimental recording of urban nightlife (parties, concerts), architecture, fashion and landscape. With an academic training in architecture and professional experience in the field of graphic design, she emphasises the porous overlapping of disciplines, photographing architectures, landscapes, objects, animals and friends with the same documentary and affective gaze, as if the camera enabled her to know everything lovingly. Furthermore, as an exemplary witness to her exhibition at the Serralves Museum, Helena Ramos has a keen awareness of the role played by montage in the perception of images, establishing a dialogue between the different universes in which she moves, and thus creating surprising synapses.

This exhibition, organized by the Serralves Museum, is curated by Ricardo Nicolau and coordinated by Adriana Soares.