Nopal 2025 4m 32 secs

Shot on Super 8 B&W TRI-X film and hand-processed in caffenol, Nopal is a tactile portrait of the prickly pears that thrive along the shifting landscapes of the Ria Formosa in Portugal. The film embraces the organic unpredictability of both medium and method—capturing the alien, almost fleshy forms of the cacti in rough-hewn textures that mirror their rugged, sunbaked environment.

Developed in a loose bucket, untethered to a spool, the film surface itself becomes a strip of raw material—etched with scratches and blemishes that echo the thorny skins of the nopales. The result is a work that feels both close up, intimate and untamed, a meditation on the strange, sculptural beauty of these otherworldly plants.