An Island of Contrast
São Miguel, Azores — a volcanic jewel adrift in the Atlantic, shimmering like a postcard yet hiding deep scars. Its beauty is shadowed by stark inequality as biodiversity, reshaped into pastures and pineapple fields, leaves some in paradise while others face Europe’s harshest poverty and exclusion.
About Artist
Mário de Pinto Balsemão
Born in the middle of the Atlantic, I work as a Sustainability Engineer by day and pursue my passion for visual art and photography whenever and wherever I can. My creative direction often centers on natural landscapes and wildlife, but I am equally drawn to the places where people and nature meet - especially in remote islands where human arrival has disrupted fragile ecosystems. I aim to explore the enduring tension between the human drive to thrive in isolation and the environmental cost that often follows. My work has been showcased in exhibitions across Portugal and published in environmental and fine art magazines. It has appeared as album covers for international musicians and has been widely featured through my involvement with the Glitch Artists Collective. In 2025, I was a finalist in the 4th edition of the “Manuel Nicolau” Photojournalism Contest in Madeira, recognized in the categories of sea, natural elements, and endemic fauna and flora.
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