The work was open for viewing only during the Summer Screenings 2024.
KABEÇA by Joyce Souza, Aoaní Salvaterra Portugal (2023)
In Yoruba, “Orí” means head. More than a physiologically structured part, the Orí is an
orixá, a god, a personal and non-transferable divinity. It is Orí who will accompany
the individual before his birth until after his death. Orí was a choice made by each
person before being born, and a choice that is continually made, or not.
In the West we are taught that the head is a part of the body. A part that houses the
brain, which has a structure made up of bones, muscles and nerve endings. A part
that houses the nervous system. The notion of part, of dismemberment proposed by
colonial logics, is mirrored in the body – city. The lapse as an institution, the
strategically fragmented memory, the violent burial is the stage for this cistema
Brancae – Lisbon.
It is from earth that Orí is made. Hitting your head on the earth, on the ground, is (in
traditions of African origin, given new meaning in the diaspora) the gesture, theaction, of maximum respect and reverence. The first act before the spin, the party,
the movement, the fightback.
In this video performance we bow heads with those who came before, we ask for
permission. We place our Orí and heart on the buried stories, as a ceremony for
those who have lost their minds. We interrupt the logic of what they call “time”, we
connect. We seek to disturb oblivion like those who did not lower their heads. We
revere those who resisted and resist here, in the desire for a sudden release of
energy that causes movements on this surface.
The video performance consists of the action of “banging your head” in ten places of
black resistance in the city of Lisbon, as a way of evoking the memory erased by the
city, suppressed by the system, suffocated by colonialism. With creation and
performance by Aoaní Salvaterra and Joyce Souza, the project is directed by
Photography by Huba Artes, Indira Mateta and Pedro Henrique Sousa, support for
dramaturgy by Monalisa Silva, music by Xullaji, sound by Sara Marita, lighting by
Ariene Godoy, Editing by Victor dos Santos and produced by Ngleva Produções.
Bios
Aoaní Salvaterra is an actress, performer, playwright, producer and journalist. Born in São
Tomé and Príncipe, she lives in Lisbon. She completed secondary education in Portugal and
graduated in Social Communication, with a specialization in Journalism, at Faculdade Norte
e Nordeste do Brasil-FANOR, Fortaleza -CE / Brazil (2009). She has a Master’s degree in
Theater – Performing Arts, from the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema (IPL), in Lisbon
(2022).
She lived for almost a decade in Angola, where she worked in the field of social
communications. She worked as a journalist at Rede Angola and Economia Mercado. She
was an editor at Novo Jornal and Carga Magazine. She was public relations at Back
Communications and Executive and was a communications consultant for HC3, a project
implemented in Angola by Johns Hoppkins University. In 2012 she published a collection of
chronicles entitled Miopia Crónica by the publisher Chá de Caxinde, Luanda: 2012.
In 2017, she moved to the United States of America (Toledo, Ohio / Hillside, New Jersey)
where she attended theater and chamber acting classes at Owens Community College and
Starbound Talent Studio, both in Toledo, Ohio.
She has worked as an actress in theater, cinema and audiovisual, with names such as Zia
Soares, Xie Xiaodong and Jeremy Meier, with works shown in Portugal, Germany, Italy, the
United States of America and China.
She is one of the creators of the video-performance Kabeça, which results from the artistic
residency carried out in the Kilombo program, curated by Aurora Negra for the Alkantara
Festival 2023 and the Kabeça Orí project approved in the 4th edition of the O Espaço
Creation Grants do Tempo with support from Banco BPI and “la Caixa” Foundation. She is
co-creator of the staged reading Língua Materna, present at the first FeLiCidade festival,
presented in May 2024, at the Centro Cultural de Belém, in Lisbon.
Joyce Souza is an actress, playwright and educator. Born in Guarujá- SP-Brazil. In Brazil,
she began her academic training in theater direction at the Federal University of Ouro Preto.
She has a degree in interpretation from EAD-ECA-University of São Paulo and a degree in
artistic education from Faculdade Paulista de Artes. At the Theater she was in several shows
directed by Luiz Fernando Marques- Lubi; Wanderley Piras; Beth Dorgam; Dagoberto Feliz;Claudia Schapira; Iacov Hillel; Isabel Setti; Angelo Brandini, among others. She was an artist educator and educational coordinator at art exhibitions and museums. Highlighting “Mayas, the revelation of an endless time” and “Terra Comunal – Marina Abramovic +MAI”, being part of the educational team that applied the method developed by Abramovic. She was a guest teacher in the subjects: “Interpretation” and “Performance”, in the Technical Theater Course at Senac-National Commercial Learning Service. In Portugal she created and developed “Jogatina de Histórias” and “Histórias de Bolso”, storytelling and improvisation projects.
She took part as a vocal performer in the performance “Em ver ler ser” at the “A Salto” Festival in Elvas 2019. In 2022 she completed her Masters in Performing Arts at ESTC-IPL whose
theoretical research was invited to be published as an e-book by ESTC edições. She was a
performer in the show “Self Portrait. And now how do we fight?” by Isabel Mões presented at
Teatro Estúdio António Assunção – Almada. In 2023 she will be part of the show “descobriquê?” by Cátia Pinheiro, Dori Nigro and José Nunes, a co-production of Estrutura and TNDM II on tour in Odisséia Nacional. In the project she works as an interpreter and as a trainer, developing workshops on decolonial and anti-racist education. Still with the Structure, she contributed to the dramaturgy of the show “Carta à Matilde”. Creator and performer alongside Aoaní Salvaterra of the video performance “Kabeça” selected in the Kilombo program curated by Aurora Negra for the Alkantara Festival 2023, presented at Teatro São Luiz.
Creation and performance: Aoaní Salvaterra and Joyce Souza
Photography Direction: Huba Artes, Indira Mateta and Pedro Henrique Sousa
Drone images: Huba Artes
Still Photography: Indira Mateta
Support for dramaturgy: Monalisa Silva
Music: Xullaji
Sound: Sara Marita
Lighting: Ariene Godoy
Editing: Victor dos Santos
Production: Ngleva Productions
Pebbles Underground is focused on showcasing and promoting experimental, avant-garde, underground, and no-to-low budget projects by artist-humans from all over the world. Absurd, uncanny, witty, humorous, slow-video – all are welcomed, and loved.
Pebbles Underground is an independent project not funded by any government or corporation, and we intend to keep it that way. Main source of funding is personal donations from humans organizing the project, who are artists themselves, and the main drive of the project is formed by the energy and involvement of the organizers, and the public.
