Patrícia Mamona is an Olympic silver medalist in triple jump. Her training sessions in Lisbon usually take place twice a day, and include weights and explosion exercises at the gym, as well as jumping and running. Most of the training consists of short, precise exercises aimed at fine tuning muscle precision, bodily balance and jumping technique to generate fitness-peaks during the competition periods.

Many of the exercises (especially those with weights and machines) are marked by tremendous intensity and violence, but also by a feeling of fragility due to the necessary precision, the need to stop the training as soon as a muscle is off, and above all to the constant, abstract focus on some jumps, in some distant future afternoon in the Summer Olympics.

In October 2018, two years away from the Tokyo Olympics (which were then postponed to 2021), I suggested we could work together towards something in the future, something between photography and video. Patrícia agreed, so I started visiting the Jamor Centre regularly. Our arrangement was simple: I could film or photograph whatever I wanted without any restrictions as long as she did not have to interrupt any of the sessions. Her congeniality, discretion and professionalism made me feel almost invisible, as I either anticipated some of her exercises, or was overtaken by others.

It was a long and complicit process that lasted until September 2021, a month after her Silver Medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

José Pedro Cortes

José Pedro Cortes' Patrícia is a portrait of a body at work, mixing images from the training sessions with TV capatures from international competitions and the Tokyo Olympics.
A book about power, precision and beauty.
A portrait of a woman and an athlete.

Patrícia
17x24,1cm, 224 pages
Hardcover with dustjacket

Pre-order Special Price
ALL PRE-ORDERS COME WITH A 10x15cm Digital C-Print signed by José Pedro Cortes


Book out in December 2022