Public Project
“Where my belly button is buried"
This series of images and manipulated photo objects are the start of a personal process of healing from the suffering of colonization, in which photography is a ritual to explore the role of women and motherhood in my community, my relationship with my roots, territories, and migration movements. In this practice, I direct the feminine energy to heal these wounds, to revive in my tongue the language of my ancestors, to understand and keep the ancestral knowledge, to encourage my people to appreciate our heritage and feel proud of our origins. Each stitch, scratch, and brushstroke is an act of resistance, a reaffirmation of my existence, that sustains my connections to my family, community, and land. Creating this body of work is a curative ritual to explore the different elements that shaped my duxherha (the whole, body, spirit, and soul), to bury my fears, and sow strength for the ones coming. In each piece I insert elements of my culture and family history – a thread, a plant, a seed, a tree, charged with different meanings – to link the stories of my ancestors. In this way each object tells their story for those who look under the surface.
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