Bootcamp¶
“What is your fight?”
My fight is collaboration.
The word fight has many meanings depending on the context, but for me, the fittest to this first assignment was: “to work hard to defeat, end, or prevent something”. I started as being very analytical and rigid. A storm of questions and overall confusion instantly invaded my mind. With such a narrow vision, I detached myself from the initial question (lost track of it) and I almost presented a very predictable and outdated version of myself in a scientific poster. Zooming out and seeing the full narrative was essential. I realized this was the first step of an intertwined design of my personal and professional life. I proceeded to center myself and anchored my thoughts. Ultimately my values, principles, hopes, dreams and frustrations are the fuel of my fight.
I believe in small acts of kindness, in the intrinsic value of the natural world, in the strength of a community, in reason, and in knowledge-sharing. I thrive in the constant cross-over and recombination of knowledge. I believe in the power of collaboration be it between people or disciplines. My fight keeps my world in constant homeostasis, by balancing movements, interactions and exchanges with the surrounding environment.
To admire Nature is to celebrate diversity. I hope to bring harmony and increase symbiotic relations between humans and non-humans, distancing ourselves from the monoculture of the mind, spaces and nature. Through this program, I want to design interventions that challenge the eco-apartheid we’ve been living in.
Visual notes and significance
Statuette (past) - It is a symbol of Angolan culture. “The thinker” is of Chokwe origin (Angolan ethnic group) and it represents the elders and wise ones of a community. These leaders have the costume of listening to the rest of the village before presenting their arguments or points of view, a diplomatic approach I admire and try to apply whenever necessary.
Keywords (present) - the words surrounding the statuette show my (intellect)state and positioning when starting a new project. These keywords are representative of me at this point in time (October 2022).
Marine life (future) - Represents an ecological succession. In this collage, an “ecosystem” is in development. With the passage of time, more life will bloom around the statuette. At the end of the program a full ecosystem is grown, parallel to my own path, more skills and interests will enrich the space around it.