Welcome to my documentary photography series where I introduce you to some of my friends I interviewed for my book Echoes of Friendship. At the end of 2021, many of my friends and I were in transition. Most of us, transitioning away from the city of Shanghai.
It felt like we were at the beginning of a new era of some sorts, so I decided to document it by purposefully sitting down with them one by one and ask them 6 "simple" questions. And of course, ... photograph them in their homes.
Delve with me into the mythological realms with Maria Souza...
Maria walked into my life in a period where I was rebuilding myself.
The evening I met her she introduced her work by projecting a mandala-type structure with multiple concepts that I cared about.
I had never imagined that these ideas could be connected or even taught in the same class. I signed up immediately.
Since that day I have participated to the majority of her courses and I recommend her work to anyone who wants to hear it. It's hard for me to put into words how deeply and significantly her work changed me.
How would you describe yourself today to someone and how did you get to Shanghai?
I am a mythologist, a writer, and an educator. My husband was transferred here for work and I was happy with the change. At the time, I wanted something new. We came to visit the city just for a few days to see if it would be a good match for both of us and I just loved it.
Something in my gut said “I should move here”.
First, I would love if you can you tell us a bit more about your time in the Amazon Forest?
I lived seven years in the Brazilian Amazon working with environmental conservation activists. At the time, I wasn't focused on the anthropological aspect per se, my focus was on the protection of indigenous rights and their lands.
However, I was immersed in their culture because I was living and working daily with the tribe. It was a time of deep learning and transformation.
It taught me first about the precarious political and environmental situation of my country, Brazil, and then also it gave me the unique experience of living in the wild with people who live in communion with the natural world and carry this knowledge for thousands of years.
Compared to what I knew, the tribe lived a different relationship with nature, spirituality, and each other. It stirred me into a different way of life. It awakened a forgotten part of me.
I realized, perhaps for the first time, the need for wild nature, for the natural world in its untamed state. And also, how this is mirrored in our inner world and the need for us to rewild our soul and self as well.
Living with indigenous people showed me the importance of freedom, of land, and of self.
What is important to you?
I would say my creative life and my family are the most important things for me. What I mean with my creative life, is my work. I'm very blessed to be able to have my creative life and my work one and the same.
Many people have their jobs and then their creative lives are parallel to that. I'm just really, really privileged that my creative life is my work. Within my work is this sense of community, of creating deep connections. I would say that community and friends are within the creative life as well.
Then I also feel that my family is really important, it is what keeps me grounded and what gives me the courage, the strength, the stability to ...
(more in my book Echoes of Friendship.)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alizée CCM is an adventure junkie who loves to drive to new and familiar places in the spirit of learning and discovery. She's a editorial and documentary photographer based in Antwerp, with a love for humans, jewelry, tea, fashion, psychology, and so much more... Besides photography, she writes and delves in the world of film.
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