What would a decolonized Lisbon sound like?
Intervening sonically in Lisbon spaces that carry a lot of colonial and racist charge. The sound of spaces of which history has been silenced and the acoustic propagation of racialized voices as a simbolic gesture of solidarity.
“In December 2020, I set out to make use of some of my privileges: among which my whiteness, the resources and influences connected to my intellectual middle-class background and my audio-visual skills. I wanted to put them in service of racialized Lisboners and the fight against structural and everyday racist injustices.
This led to a collaboration with 6 very wonderful Lisboners, of different fields, all activists in their own right, in a project entitled "What would a Decolonized Lisbon sound like?".
Together we chose 6 locations in Lisbon that are emblematic of Portuguese colonialism and that undoubtedly have had an influence in prevalent racism today. Each contributor recorded whichever sound they would like to be heard in their chosen space. I then spent time in each site, listening to its present sonic identity.
Later I placed a sound speaker that played these previously recorded sounds (all of them voices), thereby amplifying and allowing the voices to break the sonorous “silence” of the racist sonic "status quo".
None of this was officially permitted, with the exception of one location, the Tropical Botanical Garden - formerly the stage of a “human zoo”. Here, upon arrival, a very kind security guard was extremely helpful to me, and thus I decided to follow her advice and asked for an official permit to record sound and film there and…surprise, I received permission.
The project benefited from great camera support by Joyce V. Newzrella. Some of the video footage has been caputred by Newzrella and some by myself.
It is important to state that these interventions were never primarily intended for an external audience or to be shown as a documentary-like video, but rather they were performed in solidarity with the anti-racist movement that is already making waves in Lisbon and in heartfelt support of its aims and its main agents.What mattered is that these gestures would have symbolic relevance to these 6 people. This project which, we all seem to feel, is only in its beginning, belongs to them.”
There is a 23min video documenting the interventions, with English subtitles is, for the time being, (privately) available to be watched by people selected by us, with the approval of all involved.
On this website is just a teaser.
Here is some info about the absolutely stellar folk involved in this project and their work:
Carla Fernandes: https://radioafrolis.com/sobre/ https://youtu.be/fWhAGbu2RUI
Naky Gaglo: https://africanlisbontour.com/about-me/
Selma Uamusse: Www.Selmauamusse.Com https://youtu.be/TKIydd8fYdA
Nuna : @itsnuna
Paulo Pascoal: @Paulopascoal_
Isabel Taunay https://vimeo.com/user9852095
Joyce Newzrella @Joycenewzrella
24–09–2024