In mid-2016 there was a job opening at the University of Lisbon, where I had studied from 1998 to 2007, and where part of my post-doctoral life has taken place. Before applying, I needed to see what it looked like in photographs. As I photographed it I kept seeing analogies between its surfaces and light, and how the institution transforms individuals. Everything about it seemed lapsed, worn out, nonsensical, even insane, if formally tense. A contrast then became apparent between the inward-looking farcicality of the academe and the directness of the images. Natural light seemed artificial somehow, which struck me as a good definition of University.

All images ©Humberto Brito