The love/hate relationship I have with Lisbon creates a tension that sometimes makes it difficult to take/make pictures. I’ve learned over the years that when I’m in Lisbon for a specific event, it makes it easier to find other things to shoot. Every event has its down-time, during which I can decide to put the camera away and just walk around a bit, or dial my camera settings to street-photography or the hunt for sceneries. After concentrating on - in this case - the magicians and their audiences for a few hours, meandering the streets helps me to unwind and recharge before switching back to journalist or document mode.
Before the magicians started their performances, I took a few half-decent pictures. They will be part of a future blog post.
It’s a kind of magic, after all.
David Navares
The one with the difficult task to be the first magician of this year’s Lisbon Street Magic World Festival. And, David Navares did a very fine job at that. With his signature combination of stand-up comedy and magic, in no-time he managed to pull the audience into his world.
Raúl Camagüey
Born in Lombillo, near Central Brasil in Camagüey, Raúl Martínez Fis knew at an early age he wanted to be a magician. Fascinated by the art of magic, he created his own path. A self-taught performer who never lost his focus. While working at a gas station in Italy, he handed out business cards to customers - offering his services as a magician.
Step by step he acquired the skills and in 2014 and 2015 he gained recognition when we won the third place in the Street Magic World Championship in Turin. Like many a Cuban, he left his home to make himself a better life. Not an easy path, but with his strong sense of humour he gathers inspiration at every step of the way.
Amino-San
Without speaking a word of Portuguese, Celio Amino captures the audience’s attention with a performance that I would characterise as almost serene. Performing immediately after rapid-fire Raúl Camagüey, this magician is something different. He slows you down, takes his time to build up to a handful of tricks. It’s almost like not much is happening. A nice contrast.
José Marques Antunes
From his website, I learn that José Marques Antunes invested three years in creating a repertoire of original magical illusions and that in 2025 he completed his higher education at the Faculdade de Belas-Artes da Universidade de Lisboa. In 2025, he presented his thesis O mágico enquanto criador de imagens (The magician as creator of images).
As such, he seems to be this festival’s magician with the least experience. Maybe it was part of his performance, but to me José appeared nervous and - contradictory to what’s written on his site - not very original. Maybe the magician is being too reserved?
Chris Cross
“This is not funny, it’s a medical condition!” After more then ten years of incorporating his natural abilities of dislocation and contortion into his stage act, Chris decided to leave out the part of being a contortionist. This, due to arthritis in his shoulders.
For this festival, Chris combines comedy with escapology, giving himself ninety seconds to escape from a straitjacket put on by two volunteers from the audience.
Those who want to see him do that hanging upside-down, should visit one of shows.
The Charming Jay
JAY.P from South Korea is one of those magicians who fail at every trick. The covering up of the failure results in more mistakes, that reveal a very personal style. After a while, it becomes clear that we are dealing with a clown who wants to be a magician. Or is it the other way around?
Ben Woodward
Magic Man, Ben Woodward can easily be qualified as a traditional slight-of-hand magician. Where is the ball, where did it go? You think you are holding it, then it turns out you are not. Or you are actually holding two. Playing cards too? Yes, but not up his sleeves. A fun, fast moving performance with a twist at the end.
Mago Daba
Seriously, one of the most active performers of the day. Being the first at Largo do Carmo today, Miguel Angel Daba Zarza - known as el maestro de campeones - literally takes children by the hand to create a show they will remember for a long time. Dis- and reappearing items, invisible tennis, big laughs with the audience, all aimed at making fun with the audience, rather than in front of it.
Should you wonder where he got his stage name; David Bamberg, the sixth and final member of the Bamberg Magical Dynasty, who toured the world between 1929 and 1937 using the stage name Fu Manchu.
Daba’s runs a production company with his family, he is an influential teacher and coach.
Flip Mattia
When I saw this magician earlier at Praça do Município, he was taking pictures, and he looked somewhat familiar. It was only the next day, when looking for information to put in this article, the coin dropped. I did see him before! In a [TedX talk]((https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBLqJfbivNs). Apart from being a magician, Mattia Bidoli is a documentary photographer and humanitarian worker, whose work focuses on the human cost of conflict, whose photos speak louder than words.
As a magician, he also creates experiences with the audiences rather than performing in front of them. The interaction is what really makes his show stand out.
Gabriel Gancón
From Chile, Gabriel Gancón is not only a talented magician, but also an inspiring teacher at Magic Lab. With over twelve years of dedication to magic as a profession and an industrial designer by profession, he is also a manufacturer of magic product.
He is known for his innovations in sponge ball magic. At first, one may think he is starting an algebra lesson, but it quickly becomes clear that is only his stepping stone into a funny, highly entertaining and engaging performance.
For Gabriel one should always strive to be original: “Not all magic is art, but it always should be.”
Steve Faulkner
Watching Steve Faulkner create his art together with an audience member is truly something beautiful. The joy he feels and instigates in his close-up magic is fantastic for any photographer trying to capture the essence of his work.
I loved to zoom in on his shining eyes, the enthusiasm with which he creates memories together with his volunteer. How many coins can this man pull out of your ear? A lot!
Humphrey Cornthwaite
Not many people in Europe, let alone Portugal, will ever have watched the 1994 BBC television series The Lifeboat, starring the wonderful Brendan Gleeson and Humphrey James. I did watch some episodes of it, and that must have been why Humphrey Cornthwaite’s face seemed to ring a bell.
When that bell rang, I did not pay a lot of attention to the fact. When you move around a lot, take a lot of pictures and have a thing with faces, having the feeling you’ve seen someone before happens a lot.
Anyway, on the cobbled street of Covent Garden, Humphrey learned the hard way to attract an audience, entertaining it and eventually having that crowd pay for whatever trick he had hidden away up his sleeve.
Inspired by the late, great Houdini, Cornthwaite has made a living out of escaping from a straitjacket. Not only that, he has written a play about Harry Houdini titled They Come To Watch Me Die where he himself plays Houdini.
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