If the equations of physics, which invisibly enable aircrafts to fly, remain unattainable to most of us, the desire to fly itself however seems firmly rooted in the depths of human subconscious. As Le Corbusier once put it “flying lifts us above mediocracy. Flying is, ultimately, a desperate act of faith”. In ‘How to fly’ the photographer takes us on a poetic journey into the subculture of private aviation. The language he employs takes the disguise of the documentary genre yet what initially appears to be a flight manual quickly reveals Guimarães’ true autobiographical intentions through the use of poetic punctuation. ‘How to fly’ is, after all, a reflection on the inevitable traumatic events of life and describes a series of emergency maneuvers designed to keep oneself alive.

All images ©Pedro Guimarães