Raízes da Terra (Roots of the Earth)

In preparation for my residency with traditional ceramicists in São Tomé, I turned to the island’s earlier poetry and literature, alongside archaeological and ceramic research. I sought to better understand the meaning of clay and the place of this ceramic tradition, in which women play a central role, in São Tomé’s history and contemporary life. These reflections took shape in notes on paper.

The notes draw largely on the poetry and writings of independence activist Alda Espírito Santo, in which clay recurs as a symbol of resistance, Santomean identity and connection to the African continent. Her texts also contain references to places on the island where the ceramic tradition was practised.

These reflections developed further through exchanges with local ceramicists and their communities, alongside the research of anthropological archaeologist M. Dores Cruz, who studies how enslaved people brought from mainland Africa and Cape Verde continued their ceramic practices on São Tomé.

The residency took place as part of the residency programme of the XI Bienal of São Tomé and Príncipe.

Similar research into literature, archival sources and community narratives accompanies residencies with ceramicists in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau. Together, these notes form a growing archive of the ceramic tradition’s histories and its continuation across the Atlantic.