Animal traction and cereal cultivation in Alentejo in dialogue with Artur Pastor photography

Abstract

The uses of animal traction were widely documented by photographer Artur Pastor, especially in the agricultural context and cereal cultivation. Using a selection of Pastor's photographs, we intend to demonstrate the dialogue between his work and the processes of cereal farming in Alentejo that used working animals. The images presented correspond to the methods used in farming during the period of the great arroteias, which began at the end of the 19th century and continued until the first decades of the second half of the 20th century.

By using the bibliography of references on cereal production methods in Alentejo, we intend to understand the contexts of Pastor’s works, to give them meaning and to question them.