KAYA KWANGA

BY SIMONE ALMEIDA

Simone Almeida was born in Maputo, Mozambique and lived there until she was 18, then she moved to Oporto, Portugal. She was finalist of the competition "Jovens Criadores" in 2012, with her photographic project "Oblivious". At the moment, she is a photographer and cinematographer based in Porto.

synopsis

"Kaya Kwanga" translates into "My Home". To me, this is Maputo, the place where I grew up surrounded by so many familiar faces. This project is about going back home. Going back to a place that once had such a big impact on my life and that nowadays often feels so foreign to me. Time is a never-ending clockwork that often comes hand in hand with oblivion. As time goes by, slowly and unawarely, we begin to forget faces and places, as well as the the memory of the feelings we once held for them. I cannot accept this. Here I present to you a collection of thirteen carefully chosen photographs of my last trip home. A trip where I had the overwhelming need to photograph, to document all those places and people that once again surrounded me, so that I wouldn't forget them. So that the world wouldn't forget. Because they are too important to not be remembered. If I didn't photograph them, I would lose them. And I don't want that. I like to think that if we photograph the place we call home, it will stop belonging to just us, and it will become a part of everyone who looks at it. That way, we take something so personal and make it universal. This is my Home.

editor´s note

The presented project was selected from a spontaneous submission made by Simone Almeida. Our aim is to disseminate and bring to light telling work of emergent or young photographers.