encontros da imagem 2024: tudo é incomodo quando a terra treme by joana dionísio

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The representations captured in family photo albums endure over time. Alongside these images, the intimate narratives that gave rise to them persist, passing from one generation to the next and imprinting themselves on their memories.
My perception of Africa is shaped by an optical distortion embedded in the family photo albums. Throughout my growth, this idealised representation of the African experience remained constant in my consciousness, because the authenticity of these images is linked to the lives of my ancestors who, although integral to my family’s experiences, these images tell a story that does not summarize History.
I question the recollections derived from photographs capturing the joyful days of my relatives in Africa, from the perspective of someone who did not directly experience the colonial period but chooses to reclaim the heritage of this family memory through photography.
The critical analysis of the experiences of the “retornados” generation involves a commitment to the deconstruction of colonial narratives and aims to undo the nostalgia associated with their images, recognizing their propensity to create mythologies and fantasies.
“Everything is uncomfortable when the earth shakes”/”Tudo é incomodo quando a terra treme” seeks to manage the memories of my ancestors in a conscious and critical way, reflecting a personal contemporary analysis in the face of this legacy, in my particular case great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents who were born or migrated to Mozambique during the colonial period.
Exploring the connections between identity and territory, the project arises from the tension between collective and individual memory, power and oppression, what we prefer to remember and what we choose to forget, and how these memories shape future generations’ perception of the past.
We all play a role in the construction, narration, and preservation of our historical memory.

joana dionísio

Joana Dionísio (b. 1993) is a Portuguese photographer based in Porto, where she works as a freelancer on various commissioned and personal projects. Having first studied Audiovisual Communication Technologies, she completed an Master in Artistic Photography in 2021. Joana has exhibited her work in a range of solo and group exhibitions, whilst she was selected for FRESH EYES 2022– a publication showcasing emerging European Photography Talent by GUP Magazine and was nominated as a new talent for Futures in 2023 by Bienal Fotografia do Porto. Her narratives are deeply rooted in autobiographical and personal memories, while also presenting intersubjective realities between human and non-human worlds through photographs that touch the very basic nature of our existence, the fragility of life, and our mortality.