Project Description
Ai Deus e u e?
ai Deus e u é?!
sou laranja e sou algarvia
sumarenta, perfumada, o meu perfume inibria
sou trisneta daquela outra que veio da Pérsia
e se chamava naranj
essa um pouco mais amarga
a que os romanos chamaram citrus auratium linn
do meu lado paterno tenho sumo asiático
foi o meu padrinho Vasco da Gama quem primeiro me experimentou
ai Deus e u é?!
como tudo neste mundo, sou híbridida
sou também a mãe
de todas as outras que desde o Algarve ao Brasil
por aí viajam citrus sinensis linn
estou ligada aos descobrimentos, à navegação
e a migração faz parte do meu vocabulário
ai Deus e u é?!
sou na verdade um fruto aristocrático mas sem pretensões
hoje…. por vezes tão desprezada
maltratada, ignorada, substituída
ontem tão elevada, tão exportada, tão reconhecida,
hoje….. quase esquecida
ai país que me olhas e não me vês
que me comes e não me sentes
que me acaricias e não me ouves
ai Deus e u é?!
ai Deus e u é?!
Laranjas
Tableau Vivant or Memento Mori
This site–specific installation was held between the months of June and September 2008 in a XVII century Fort in Lagos – Portugal, a place marked by the history of commercialisation of goods and of people. Although Portugal has served as a crossing between Europe and Africa for millennia, it was the maritime expansion of the fifteenth century that gave rise to its widespread colonial claims throughout Africa. Lagos was the first place in Europe where slaves were landed, and from where slaves were subsequently exported across Europe and the Americas.
The original concept for Laranjas came from the historical connection between London and the importation of oranges from Portugal via the Azores. Ships from there would sail up the Thames, carrying oranges and “Verdelho” a desert wine from the islands.
The orange is a fruit that characterizes and says “Portugal”, initially taken from Persia as a bitter orange, and later, from Mandarin… a sweet version, the hybridization of these two varieties gave birth to the first orange trees that were exported throughout the globe. Thus, the orange is more than a metaphor for a world where migration, dislocation and displacement, conflicts and disputes are present and where the demarcation of territories together with globalization, are second nature.
In Laranjas Tableau Vivant or Memento Mori I used oranges as an expression of temporality that over time and space deteriorate, decay, age and finally decompose.