Gerson Bettencourt Ferreira combines the subjective perspective of portrait analysis with elements of social research. He himself refers to his method as “empathic”. But what emerges from this “empathy and understanding” is a representative aesthetic sample of life in Berlin sport clubs.
The individual and group portraits are not only a reflection of the individual protagonists, but also of the details and peculiarities involved in popular sport. “Bettencourt Ferreira’s pictures return to us an element of metropolitan originality in images demonstrating marvellous humanity and a pleasing lack of irony. Against the harried optimism of the winners, he sets tiny nuances of an individuality that is open to play and to critical analysis. No trace of the conventional image.” (Excerpt: Christoph Tannert, Viele Gesichter, eine Perspektive from: catalogue, Frisch, Frei, Stark, Treu!, 2003)