Nuno Alexandre Serrão

Photographer and Director, Madeira Island & Lisbon based

Photographer and Director

Nuno Alexandre Serrão

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Nuno Alexandre Serrão is a Portuguese photographer and director whose work explores the relationship between natural landscapes and human-made structures, combining cinematic formalism and raw storytelling. Led by curiosity, he often creates or documents non-linear narratives about uncomfortable and ambiguous topics that challenge comfort zones and encourage reflection, ultimately provoking questions about what is fundamental or emergent.

His work has gained international attention, and is published in established media outlets like HuffPost, Público, Expresso, L’Hémcycle, Cosmopolitan Germany, Marie Claire Itália, GQ Portugal and NASA (yes, that one). It has also been exhibited in cultural institutions such as Fotogalerie Friedrichshain in Berlin, ImageNation in Milan, ArtIcon in Paris, and the National Museum of Finland. His short films and commercial projects have been recognized at festivals like Aesthetica, Caminhos do Cinema Português, FUSO, Paris Art Movie Awards, and Inshadow Festival.

Critics describe Serrão’s work as ‘pursuing the beauty that emerges at the intersection of nature and humanity’ (Ana Marques Maia, Público, 2024). Claire Ducresson-Boët describes his landscapes as ‘places of passage and transition where time seems to stand still, offering a moment of quietness before life resumes.’

In 2022, Serrão was recognized by the Creative Europe platform Futures Photography. He has been an Adobe Partner since 2020 and is represented by Kintzing for photography licensing. His recent collaborations include major brands like Adobe and Samsung, as well as respected art publications like Create! Magazine and GUP Magazine.

Get in touch:
e: hello@nunoserrao.com
ig: nunoserrao

Analogue projects only, email for digital portfolio.

Recent clients & collaborations (selection): GQ Portugal; Carmencita Editions; GUP Magazine; Cosmopolitan Germany; Expresso; L’Hémcycle; Adobe; Der Grief; Create! Magazine; Discovery; Too Tired Press; Oprah Daily; Subjectively Objective; Aesthetica Magazine; Samsung Electronics; Mediocre; Boom Saloon; The Huffington Post; Público.

“A cruzada de Nuno não é ideológica, mas sim visual. Ele persegue a beleza que emerge do encontro entre dois mundos, o natural e o humano.”

Ana Marques Maia, Público, 2024

“(…) They depict deserted landscapes being at times overtaken by imposing brutalist architecture, translating a form of melancholy through its aesthetic simplicity. The cinematic compositions, deprived of human life, show places of passage and transition where time seems to stand still for a relieving moment of quietness before a choreography of movements resumes. (…)”

Claire Ducresson-Boët, Fotogalerie Friedrichshain, 2022

“(…) His cinematic compositions and unorthodox approach to portraiture demonstrate a sensitivity to the world around him. (…)”

gelstaten, 2021

“Nuno Serrão is a Portuguese photographer, interested in the dialogues between science and contemporary art. Each of his images considers how information is handled, shared, and perceived, framing scenarios as micro-narratives, demonstrating a sensitivity and a curiosity for the planet and its inhabitants. (…)”

Kate Simpson, Aesthetica Magazine, 2019

Exhibitions, talks, and festivals (selection)
Art Icon, Bastille Design Center, Paris (November, 2024)
ImageNation, Fondazione Luciana Matalon, Milan (September, 2024)
Manifesta 15, Anteverti, Barcelona (May, 2024)
[PEP] Photographic Explorations °01, The Room, Brussels (Jan – Mar, 2024)
Touching Transcendence, USN Gallery, Tokyo (Dec, 2023)
Fresh Eyes International 2023, Haute Photographie, Amsterdam (Set, 2023)
Zrno Festival, National Gallery of Macedonia, Skopje (Jun – Jul, 2023)
Signs of Impermanence, Jinny Street Gallery, Tokyo (Apr, 2023)
Gallery 46, London (Feb, 2023)
Transitions, Fotogalerie Friedrichshain, Berlin (Sep – Oct, 2022)
Investigations into Infrastructure, Studio2, Detroit (May, 2022)
FUSO, Centro de Arte Contemporânea, Lisboa (Jul, 2021)
Rvkfringe Festival, Gallerí Fold, Reykjavik, (Jul, 2021)
Quantum Shorts Conversations, National University of Singapore (Apr, 2021)
Aesthetica Filmmaker Insights Panel, York (Nov, 2020)
Lenzburg Photo Festival, Lenzburg (Sep, Oct, 2020)
Fotofestival Schiedam, Schiedam (Sep, 2020)
Helsinki Photo Festival, The National Museum of Finland, Helsinki (Jul, Sep, 2020)

Film Festivals (selection)
FICIMAD | Winner Best Cinematography (Madrid, 2025)
Paris Movie Awards | Winner Best Experimental (Paris, 2025)
Alt Film Fest | Winner Best Experimental (Toronto, 2024)
Festival Impacto | Winner Best Short Film (Lisbon, 2024)
Blois Danse Festival | Winner Jury Award (Blois, 2024)
Astoria Film Festival | Finalist (New York, 2024)
Annual Copenhagen Film Festival | Finalist (Copenhagen, 2021)
Quantum Shorts  | Finalist (Singapore, 2021)
Caminhos do Cinema Português | Nominee (Coimbra, 2020)
Aesthetica Short Film Festival  | Nominee (York, 2020)
Carmarthen Bay Film Festival | Nominee (Wales, 2020)
FUSO – Lisbon International Video Art Festival | Nominee (Lisbon, 2020)
ReelHeart Film Festival | Winner Best Experimental (Toronto, 2020)
LA Experimental Film Festival | Winner Best Dance (Los Angeles, 2020)
Astoria Film Festival | Winner Best Experimental (New York, 2020)
InShadow Festival | Winner Best Portuguese Film (Lisbon, 2019)

Publications, essays, interviews (selection)

“Spooky Action at a Distance in Collater.al” (Collater.al, 2025); “All Islands Are Moutains in Collater.al” (Collater.al, 2024); “Aesthetica Art Prize Long Listed” (Aesthetica, 2024); “Na Madeira, o brutalismo e a natureza fundem-se num só retrato” (Público, 2024); Fiiiirst 92th discussion (Fiiiirst, 2024); GQ Portugal December Cover (Lighthouse Publishing, 2023); Interview (Waiting On The World, 2023); Fresh Eyes 2023 (GUP, 2023); Cosmopolitan Germany (Bauer Group, July, 2023); Cities To Be (Anteverti, coming in 2023); Urban Unveils (Exhibit Around, 2023) Carmencita Best of 2022 (Carmencita Editions, 2023); “All Islands Are Mountains” Translocal nº7 (Academia.edu, 2023); My House is a Parking Lot (Suboart Magazine, 2023); Futures Photography 2022 Artist (Futures Photography, 2022); Book “Anthology” (Too Tired Press, 2022); Book “Investigations in Infrastructure” (Subjectively Objective, 2022); “Exploring Life’s Mysteries: Interview with Nuno Serrão” (Create!magazine, 2021); Issue #27 (Create! Magazine, 2021); Issue 14 (Der Grief, 2021); “Desde el interior” (Culturamas, 2021); “Flow” (Bluebee Magazine, 2021); Book “Um Olhar de Fora Dentro” (Mediocre, 2021); “Free Space” (Marie Claire Italy, 2020); “Short Stories To Tell In The Dark” (Oprah Daily, 2020); “The Great Escape” (Float Magazine, 2020); “Micro-Narratives” (Aesthetica Magazine, 2019); “In Between” (The Photographic Journal, 2019); “Folk Tales” (Cultura Colectiva, 2019); “Under The Storm” (Boom Saloon Magazine nº4, 2019); “Perspectiva e Circunstância” (Translocal nº1, 2019); “Confronting Existentialism” (Plain, 2018); “Finding Beauty in simplicity” (C-Heads Magazine, 2018); “Inland Iceland” (Featured on Booooooom, 2018); “Inland Morocco” (This Isn’t Happiness, 2018); “Inland Madeira” (Mâché, 2018); “Under a Storm” (Mâché, 2018); “Morrocos minimal” (Fugas, 2018); “Perseids” Huffington Post (2015); “Lenticular Cloud, Moon, Mars, Venus” (NASA, 2015).