LUUANDA

2019
Luanda, 2019
Luanda, 2019
Luanda, 2019
Luanda, 2019
Luanda, 2019
Luanda, 2019
Luanda, 2019
Luanda, 2019

TCHON D’HOLANDA

2017–2019
72x108cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2018
72x108cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2018
120x90cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2018
72x108cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2019
72x108cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2018
120x80cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2019
30x40cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2019
30x40cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2019
30x40cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2019
30x40cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2019
30x40cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2019
30x40cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2019
30x40cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2019
30x40cm, Tchon d’Holanda, 2019
Photographed over a period of 3 years, this project developed through an immersion into an agricultural and human territory that, although small in size, presents enormous complexity and heterogeneity.
The agricultural perimeter named Tchon d’Holanda (meaning “Dutch Land”) is a project of the government of Cape Verde, with funding from the Dutch Cooperation.
The technology behind this initiative was the use of treated wastewater from the sewage plant for the irrigation of vegetables and fruit plants. The introduction of this technology was expected to encourage the extension of the agricultural area in Ribeira de Vinha and mitigate the adverse environmental conditions and water scarcity. In the field, I met dozens of farmers who complained about access to limited amount of water and lack of investment and monitoring in the short, medium and long term. These conditions have resulted in a situation of neglect and isolation, while soil and crops have been continuously deteriorating, affecting the approximately 90 farmers who subsist here very precariously.
Still, whenever I visit my acquaintances there, they always offer me a piece of whatever is growing in their vegetable gardens.
The many seed packets I collected are just an indication of how farmers are held hostage to commercially available seeds in Cape Verde, imported from several western countries and poorly adapted to the local climate, with serious consequences on the impoverishment of local and national genetic and cultural heritage.
In addition to the usual difficulties of subsistence agriculture practiced in Cape Verde, this “enclosed garden” is an example of the typical contradictions of international cooperation, leading to the negligence and marginalization of enormous human capital and a wealth of accumulated knowledge and experience.

Tchon d'Holanda was created with support of Ci.CLO Photography Biennial and was presented in the collective exhibition "Adaptation and Transition" (2019) curated by Virgílio Ferreira.

STANDARD DEVIATION

2017–2019
Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2017
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Baryta Paper
50x75cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2017
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Baryta Paper
50x75cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2019
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Baryta Paper
50x75cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2017
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Baryta Paper
90x60cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
National Fisheries Development Institute, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2019
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Baryta Paper
50x75cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Mindelo Meteorological Observatory, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2019
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Baryta Paper
50x75cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2017
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Baryta Paper
50x75cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2017
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Baryta Paper
50x75cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2017
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Baryta Paper
50x75cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2017
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Baryta Paper
90x60cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
For Standard Deviation I wanted to examine science’s often colonial stance towards nature, as well as the complications of conducting scientific research in Cabo Verde in a time of global capitalism and neocolonialism.
I approached this project by thinking about science from its positivist perspective and questioning the technical and philosophical devices associated with the scientific method. I looked at science and scientific research as this place where the natural and physical world are comprehensively and obsessively — observed, measured, classified and ordered in the name of surveillance and climate data modelling. Throughout this project, I developed a strong collaboration with both local and international scientists working in Cabo Verde and was able to grasp a tip of the entanglements and contradictions associated with climate change-related scientific research. In the process, I came to understand that error plays a fundamental role in illuminating the path to knowledge and focused my approach on the most humanising and intimate aspects of science, where failure, improvisation and “unimpossibility” are most visible.

Grateful acknowledgement to all researchers involved, in particular: Luís Neves (OACV), Vito Ramos and Elizandro Rodrigues (OSCM), Osvaldina Duarte Silva and Sandra Correia (INDP).

This work was produced in the scope of PARALLEL European Photo Based Platform and presented in the collective exhibitions "Currents Shift" (2019) curated by Jon Uriarte, at the Chateau d’Eau, in Toulouse, France, and "Zeitgeist" (2019) curated by Judit Gellér and Emese Mucsi, at the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center, in Budapest, Hungary. Solo exhibition curated by Noora Manty, presented at Galeria da Estação, as part of the Encontros da Imagem Photography Festival 2023, in Braga, Portugal.

LISTEN TO THE BARBARIANS

2016
Fio de Pedra, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2016
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Matt Paper
100x100cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Fio de Pedra, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2016
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Matt Paper
100x100cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Fio de Pedra, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2016
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Matt Paper
100x100cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Fio de Pedra, São Vicente, Cabo Verde
2016
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Matt Paper
100x100cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Chã de Feijoal, Santo Antão, Cabo Verde
2016
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Matt Paper
50x50cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Chã de Feijoal, Santo Antão, Cabo Verde
2016
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Matt Paper
50x50cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP
Chã de Feijoal, Santo Antão, Cabo Verde
2016
Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Matt Paper
50x50cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP

CABRAL KA MORI

2010–2011
Actor José Barros during the play "Retratinho de Amílcar Cabral".
A production of TEATROMOSCA, Casa de Teatro de Sintra, 2011
A Natural Park in the present days, the mountains of Serra Malagueta are located very close to the home where Amílcar Cabral grew up as a young man. I would simply be speculating if I said that he was familiar with this territory and that this conviviality had an influence on his choice to study Agronomy but, having worked here three years prior to making this photograph, I learnt that this landscape is charged with deep symbolic significance, having been one of the main places of refuge in the island of Santiago for those who escaped slavery. I understand that moment to be one of the earliest acts of rebellion against colonialism, while Amílcar Cabral himself lead a similar act of resistance many centuries later.
Serra Malagueta, Santiago, Cabo Verde, 2011
Liceu Velho, São Vicente, Cabo Verde, 2011
A short pen stroke near the right margin of this archival photograph indicates the presence of Amílcar Cabral in the image.
Fundação Mário Soares, Lisboa, Portugal, 2011
Amílcar Cabral lived in this house during his childhood, following his parents' return to Cape Verde from Guinea Bissau in 1932, where he had been born.
Santa Catarina, Santiago, Cabo Verde, 2011