ANCESTRAL FOLK: A JOURNEY THROUGH LIMINAL SPACE
Protagonist: Rosa Pais
Photography: Eunice Pais
The image portrays Rosa's hands resting on three capulanas that serve as garments: a veil, a cloak, and a skirt.
It represents the manual labour involved in garment making, farming, caring, and creating,all of which played a significant role in shaping Rosa's identity.
From her perspective, who fled to Portugal from Mozambique, her hands encompass all of the above. She had to engage in various forms of labor to survive while caring for herself and her family. Thus, the image highlights the importance of manual labour in Rosa's life and its influence on her identity.
Image of Rosa holding a straw basket with dry foliage, walking in a plot of land.
Rosa is strolling through a plot of land, holding a straw basket filled with dry foliage. She walks with purpose, grounded in the earth as she carries the bounty of the land.
Her face covered, symbolises how land stewards are often invisible in conversations around land protection. Through her stance, Rosa reclaims her connection to the land and emphasises the importance of land stewardship. The image highlights the significant threat of land exploitation to food and land sovereignty in Mozambique and Portugal, where smallholder farmers play a crucial role in agricultural production. By covering her face, Rosa emphasises the need to recognise the often- overlooked contributions of land stewards to the protection and preservation of the land.
Image of Rosa wearing a costume made up of different capulanas . Her face is covered. The palms of her hand face the camera. Behind are views of farms.
The image of Rosa wearing a costume combined with different capulanas with her face covered reflects a reimagining of Mozambican and Portuguese masquerade traditions. The use of capulanas in the picture is an example of how traditional garments can be repurposed and reimagined to create new meanings and connections to ancestral heritage. The positioning of her palms facing the camera adds a sense of playfulness, vulnerability, and openness to the image.
Close-up picture of Rosa looking ahead. Her face is partially covered by a capulana.
This close-up image of Rosa captures her partial concealment behind a capulana and her direct gaze ahead. The partially covered face and direct gaze of Rosa represent the tension between the visibility and invisibility of Mozambican women who migrated to Portugal after the Mozambican independence war in 1974 and their agency in shaping their lives and identities in the land of the coloniser. The capulana, traditionally used as a versatile garment in Mozambique, here becomes a symbol of ancestral cultural tradition and resilience, evoking protection and adaptation in a new context. Despite the covering, Rosa's confident gaze conveys defiance and empowerment, challenging stereotypes and invisibility that can be associated with the diasporic experience.
Image of Rosa wearing a costume made up of different capulanas . Her face is uncovered. Her eyes are closed.
The vibrant colors and patterns of the capulanas serve as a visual reminder of the rich cultural heritage that Rosa is tapping into and reclaiming, and her closed eyes suggest that this is a deeply personal and meaningful journey for her.
Through the use of traditional garments repurposed and reimagined in contemporary contexts, Rosa evokes a sense of cultural meshing and personal exploration.
Image of Rosa standing with her face covered behind two vases.
In this closer image of Rosa, she stands with her head covered in a red and yellow capulana, and the two vases are positioned in front of her. The vases continue to represent vessels of stories, but in this image, Rosa herself becomes a vessel, a repository of stories and experiences. The capulana covering her head symbolises the cultural traditions and knowledge that she carries with her. As a woman who has migrated from Mozambique to Portugal, Rosa's own story is one of resilience and adaptation, making her a vessel of the collective experience of those who have migrated before and after her.
Image of Rosa standing amidst dunes, wrapped in orange fabric and two capulanas. In her head is a folded cloth. In front of her are two vases.
In the image, Rosa stands among the beach dunes, wrapped in orange fabric and two capulanas. A folded cloth rests on her head, and two vases stand before her. The vases serve as vessels of stories, carrying memories and histories of Mozambican culture. The beach dunes suggest the presence of water nearby. Water in Mozambican culture embodies mythology, acts as a repository of stories, and plays a significant role in Mozambican history due to its role in trade. The arid terrain around Rosa represents a healing space for renewal. The folded cloth on her head represents the traditional African practice of head-carrying, a symbol of strength, resilience, and sustenance.
Image of Rosa's face with closed eyes, facing direct sunlight, holding dried foliage. On her head is the straw basket she used to carry the dry foliage.
Rosa is transformed, standing in a saint-like pose with her eyes closed, and her face lifted toward the direct sunlight. She still holds the straw basket, but now it sits atop her head like a crown, a symbol of her connection to the land and the knowledge she carries. The dried foliage she holds in her hands now seems to glow in the light, imbued with new power. This transformation represents the passage from simply strolling through the land to becoming a vessel of its wisdom and a conduit for its transformative energy.
Image of Rosa walking away from the sun.
As Rosa walks away from the sun in the third image, she carries with her the essence of the light that has transformed her. The straw basket, now empty, still sits atop her head like a reminder of the knowledge she has gained. The dried foliage she holds in her hand has lost its glow but retains the power that it has gained in her transformation. As she moves away from the light, she embodies the lessons of the land and carries them forward into the world, a beacon of hope and renewal for those around her. The transformation she underwent in the previous image is now a part of her, guiding her as she continues her journey.
Close-up of Rosa wearing sunglasses, a semi-covered straw basket as a hat, pulling the sleeves of one capulana.
Rosa wears sunglasses and a semi-covered straw basket as a hat, pulling the sleeves of her capulana. Her outfit is a fusion of the traditional and the contemporary, representing the dynamic interplay of past and present. The sunglasses are a symbol of this evolving cultural exchange, where Portugal has influenced Rosa and, in turn, she has reclaimed her identity and connected with her ancestral community.
The semi-covered straw basket, now a fashionable accessory, represents the interplay between cultures and the new meanings that arise from it. It serves as a symbol of Rosa's journey from her ancestral community to her interactions with Portugal and how those experiences have shaped her identity. Through her journey, she has come to reclaim her connection to her roots and embrace the new stories that arise from the interplay of cultures. The sunglasses represent the contemporary, a nod to the dynamics of old and new and how they influence each other. As she pulls the sleeves of her capulana, she is reminded of the strength and resilience of her ancestors and how their representation might influence contemporary diasporic identities. Rosa's journey is one of hope, a testament to the power of cultural exchange to bring about transformation and growth.