May 2025
17×24 cm
84 pages
Softcover
ISBN 978-88-94895-79-7
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Edited and designed by Beatriz Banha, Claudia Lancaster and Pedro Alfacinha
Co-published with Arte Deste Século

Much like the moon, which does not cast its own light but reflects the sun’s, the photographs in Midday Moon appear to represent the world, but are, in fact, an echo of Beatriz Banha’s particular universe. 

This is a world seen askew: hands mid-gesture, textures half-revealed, objects both tactile and out of place. Banha’s presence is constant but never central. She operates just outside the frame, like a satellite held in orbit. The places that formed her, the house she grew up in, territories in and around Évora, everyday scenes and familiar spaces — are all touched by something unfamiliar: the agency of photography. Flash brings surfaces into sharp relief while casting doubt on their meaning. Obstacles impair our recognition of figures in portraits. Lush still-lives appear gift-wrapped in plastic bags. The scenes appear real enough, yet they feel slightly detached, as if lit by an otherworldly source. 

Midday Moon might be a study in perception. A kind of lunary where the moon is rarely seen, but rather what it lights up: a world estranged from itself. An elusive account, equally distanced and affectionate, of the relationship between the real world and Banha’s own, in which photography acts as our interpreter.