Through socially engaged projects, photography has always allowed me to interact with people and, through that, make meaning of my own story.
The resulting still images are a consequence of my encounters with my collaborators, a brief record of an invitation to create together, to transform and play, cry and laugh. There is space for silence and reflection too. Some of my personal projects are about the individual in public spaces while others explore the private and intimate space of an individual.
Performance, role playing, writing, dance, mirrors, objects, garments are some of the “tools” chosen by collaborators to frame and make meaning. Focusing on simple but universal ideas that can mean a lot to people, the work hopes to touch notions of identity, belonging, memory, and dreams—hopes to delve into what it is to be an individual of our times.
Photography stills are one aspect of the meaningful interactions I have with my collaborators in our participatory projects.
The resulting work tends to be presented in the medium of photography but I recurrently invite somatic exploration, performance and group dynamic techniques to our workshops. I am also really inspired by Brazilian Augusto Boal and his theatrical methods. I seek to not let people be simply seaters but active participants of collaborative creations.
Mercury contamination in the Amazon through the eyes and hands of Brazil's Indigenous Munduruku people Starting from portraits and landscapes I brought back to the community, I invited collective creative interventions. Using paint, beads, earth, leaves, water and...
A series of images, created with my children, of Amazonian indigenous peoples and their forest home. Made with fire, gold, blood, earth and leaves. An attempt to touch on the grief felt for our planet and find hope in the process.
“Dear Ana is about my journey back to my grandmothers motherland, Portugal. I went for her, who could never return in life. It’s also a socially engaged collaborative project with the people I encountered.
Birth Marks- Marcas de Nascença- A register of transformations and marks of motherhood, in the body and in the soul.
Shop windows are their mirrors. Photographs are rare, and proofs of identity are virtually non-existent.
As a child growing up in Brazil I used to spend the summer holidays with my paternal grandmother.
In a time when youth is glorified and valued as an indispensable asset, to get old is increasingly hard.
Growing up in South America, foreign places were imagined through postcards.
In Malaysia, I continued my recurrent theme of Postcards. Relating to the IPRN Fellowship theme: Work.
During an “acampamento” of indigenous people from all over Brazil on the “esplanade of ministries” in Brazil’s capital
A Dance for All Seasons was an ambitious and magical immersive performance event
which took place at London’s Rich Mix in Autumn 2019.
As an associate artist of charity All Change Arts I am involved in the creation of participatory engaged art projects with diverse groups.
A selection of books that have included my work from personal projects to reportage
This is a selection of published press from personal projects