Dispatch to Origin, 2020
When thinking about migration, one might rush to associate at least a certain degree of trauma to the experience. Which in many cases is not the case.
Notwithstanding political persecution, natural disasters, or lack of resources; people also migrate for adventure. Or in pursuit of a romantic relationship. In “Dispatch to Origin”, I followed two types of Brazilian migrants in the Netherlands. The first coming for love, to build a life together with the Dutch partner. The second, for temporary work, but with the idea of returning homewards as soon as enough had been earned. In common, they shared profound homesickness, known to Brazilians as Saudade. As well as the fact that they all had been undocumented at some point during their stay.
The ones who had come for jobs, none of them had permits or regular employment. This forced them to work mainly in the domestic sector. The others coming for love also had to contend with long bureaucratic visa application procedures. After photographing them in the Netherlands, I took the negatives with me to Brazil and did a *Macumba-lite on them, as a gesture of symbolism.
My ritual didn’t include any of the usual attributes of a macumba, such as the killing of small animals - chickens being the most popular. In my macumba-lite, the negatives were doused in a cocktail of tropical fruits, cachaça (the national liquor), and coffee. While this mix was exposed to the weather for three weeks, I wished everybody an excellent outcome in their endeavors. After three weeks, the negatives were placed to dry on printed paper of literary texts.
The resulting images show the effect of these rituals.
* Macumba refers to some Brazilian rituals derived from African shamanism, used to pray for desired outcomes.