Mary Ng'ikwa - Limited Edition of 7 Photograph

Winner - Chromatic Awards Part of my Interior Project. In 2016, I took a DNA test to find out my global ancestry, and based on the result I decided to travel to the interior of the countries where my ancestors came from. The project aims to create parallels between cultures that maintained their roots, from their origin, and their ramifications in Brazilian lands. I also turned this research into a simple and humane message, to show that we are all connected. I like to show our interdependence in the world and to create empathy and respect between cultures. The project started in 2015 when I traveled to the interior of Brazil. I spent some time in the quilombola community Lagoa da Pedra, in Tocantins, I went to the Rio Grande do Sul to meet the gauchos, and in Piauí to portray the life of the cowboys in the interior. Then, I wanted to know more about the origin of these cultures, and also my origin. I, like many Brazilians, did not know exactly where my ancestors came from and that was where the idea for DNA testing came from. From the result, I have already traveled to Ethiopia and Kenya. It is a personal discovery, where I research my own ancestry, but it is also a way of revisiting history with a postcolonial vision, where I try to identify the influences of each migratory movement in the construction or deconstruction of thoughts and cultures, both in their Western origins. , but mainly in the manifestations that resisted the western colonialism influence.