Tudo é incomodo quando a terra treme

‘Articular historicamente o passado não significa conhecê-lo “como ele de fato foi”. Significa apropriar-se de uma reminiscência, tal como ela relampeja no momento de um perigo.’
Walter Benjamin

The representations captured in family photo albums endure over time. Alongside these images, the intimate narratives that gave rise to them persist, passing from one generation to the next and imprinting themselves on their memories.
My perception of Africa is shaped by an optical distortion embedded in the family photo albums. Throughout my growth, this idealised representation of the African experience remained constant in my consciousness, because the authenticity of these images is linked to the lives of my ancestors who, although integral to my family's experiences, these images tell a story that does not summarize History.
I question the recollections derived from photographs capturing the joyful days of my relatives in Africa, from the perspective of someone who did not directly experience the colonial period but chooses to reclaim the heritage of this family memory through photography.

The critical analysis of the experiences of the “retornados” generation involves a commitment to the deconstruction of colonial narratives and aims to undo the nostalgia associated with their images, recognizing their propensity to create mythologies and fantasies.
"Tudo é incomodo quando a terra treme" seeks to manage the memories of my ancestors in a conscious and critical way, reflecting a personal contemporary analysis in the face of this legacy, in my particular case great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents who were born or migrated to Mozambique during the colonial period.
Exploring the connections between identity and territory, the project arises from the tension between collective and individual memory, power and oppression, what we prefer to remember and what we choose to forget, and how these memories shape future generations' perception of the past.
We all play a role in the construction, narration, and preservation of historical memory.

Um mundo que fala ao teu ouvido

And the shape of things disappeared for a while

Diante da infinitude do nada