Photographic ex-votos. Preservation Questions on Image Collections in Religious Buildings

Abstract

This work discusses issues related to the conservation of photographic collections placed in religious buildings and makes part of a Ph.D. project on photographic votive offerings (ex-voto) in Alentejo region in Portugal. The ongoing research intends to draw attention on the objects themselves due to their importance to the society as devotional objects, and their relevance to understand local communities through image representation. One major purposes of the work will be to design a strategy for the valorisation and preservation of this particular type of heritage in order to safeguard the collective memory.