Encontro. (Encounter)

Encontro is a photographic series within Chão de Histórias that explores the relationships between territory, memory, and ancestry. Each work is created through the digital layering of ancestral portraits from the artist's family archive with photographs of the cracked surface of the dry clay found in the sertão of Pernambuco, producing images in which identity and landscape become inseparable.

By replacing portions of the faces with the fissures of the earth, the series dissolves the boundaries between identity and territory. Landscape no longer functions as a backdrop but instead becomes the very site of memory, suggesting that family histories remain inscribed in the land as profoundly as they are in the body. Clay, a recurring element throughout the project, ceases to exist merely as a natural material and becomes a witness to the passage of time and to the continuity that binds generations together.

Rather than portraying individual lives, Encontro reflects on the traces we inherit and on the invisible bonds that continue to shape who we are. The images suggest that belonging and ancestry reside not only within family archives but also within the land itself—a place that preserves, transforms, and ultimately returns the memories carried across it.