People. Not Pages: Fabio Miguel Roque
With the “People. Not Pages” mini-interview series The Phooks invites you to learn more about people who stand behind the medium of self- & indie-published photobooks, and zines.
Today we welcome Fabio Miguel Roque, a photographer, publisher, and curator. Born in Lisbon and based in Sintra, Portugal. On his work, we can notice a clear duality between documentary photography and also intimate and personal projects.
He runs the project “Preto Books”, an independent publishing house focused on photobooks, and other kinds of publications. Since the beginning of his editor career, he already worked on more than 50 titles. As well as being a member of Latent Image Collective, since 2014.
This work is about my inability to remember my own dreams and how dreams are symbolising themselves to me. I’m a daydreaming person, images come and go in an endless stream singing through my head.
In the last years, he made several solo and collective exhibitions both in Portugal and abroad, in places like the US, Spain, Bulgaria, Poland, Italy and Germany.
How do you live and make your living?
Difficult question. Actually I always did many things, is not easy to be an artist or live only by making your art, so often I did other things in my path only to fulfill my real passion. Nowadays I just trying to understand what’s the best move to do next.
How did you get into photography?
At a very young age, I just took the analog camera from my parents and started to shoot my friends and most everything around me, then I realized that I wanted that. Since then it was a long path, many things had happened but I’m happy with what I achieved so far.
What do you value the most in the art of photography?
Photography for me is many things. Many usual things, to reach people, to touch people, to get your work known, but at the end of the line, for me, these are small aspects. Photography is mostly a way to defeat my demons and express myself.
Is there something you hate about it?
Sure! I think more and more photography world is not a good place to be in. A lot of competition, a lot of people copy others' works, and so on. More and more I feel I need to protect myself from it.
How many books you have and what does your collection means to you?
Around 450/500 between books and zines.
I really don’t feel that I need them honestly, of course, there are many that I love and I really want more and more books, but in the end they are books, and in a way, they are a bit of an escape from life itself, like other mediums. But I must admit, they are the best tool to escape reality.
Is there a photobook you admire?
Many actually! But if I only can tell one, it must be “Far Cry” by Paulo Nozolino.
What should a book be to get into your collection?
Actually there are two! haha “Half Life” by Michael Ackerman and mostly “Trying to Dance” by Engstrom, but they are hard to get, or truly expensive.
What does it mean to you to turn your work into a sensible form of a book? Tell us based on your latest project.
At the beginning it was a real joy, I was like a kid actually. Now is different, I often see many books, many things, and some of them are good actually, most of them not really. So this fact made me change my perception about making books, that’s why I’m quieter lately, and working with other eyes.
I’m actually working on my new book with a German publisher and so far it’s been a nice experience, mostly because I’m far from the editing, design part, and focus more on my own art.
I decided to take this opportunity to discover my origins. After some time I found my viewpoint on these images and started to make scans in an effort put some order in them. The first result was an album that I could hold in my hands. And then immediately it started to give me answers and new questions.
What you expect people should feel when opening your book?
Melancholy.
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