Ana Maria left Angola at the age of nine. She departed believing she was on her way to study but the reality was far harsher. She had been trafficked to Portugal to work for a family enabled in part by a falsified signature. There, she would learn to read and write while taking care of children. She cleaned homes for four decades. She built a life in Lisbon. For the photographer Maria Abranches, Ana Maria’s story is emblematic of how colonialism’s scars and social structures still mark Portuguese society today.
“At a time when there is a great dispute over colonial memory, which seeks to continue excluding racialized people from the national collective narrative, it seemed urgent to me to think of a photographic work that could help highlight the deep marks left by colonialism, and that, in some way, could rescue and honor the memory of the centuries-long African presence in Portugal,” Abranches explains.
The role of colonialism in shaping Portuguese society is a foundational starting point for all of Abranches’ work. Her first awareness was informed by her father’s experience as a soldier in Angola’s War of Independence, forced into service by Portugal’s Estado Novo dictatorship. “His past shaped my understanding of colonialism’s enduring scars, not only on the colonized but also on those who carried out the colonizer’s orders,” she notes.
In the opening image of Abranches’ project, MARIA, a figure waits at a bus stop. The nighttime scene is lit by the bright image of a forest on the bus shelter, perhaps an advertisement or a public artwork. Framed within the shelter’s image is Ana Maria’s silhouette. She manages to be both bold and hidden, in the shadows and yet obviously there, as if challenging one to take a closer look, to acknowledge her presence.
The origin of this project was personal. “I was raised by a woman whose story mirrors that of Ana Maria—a caregiver whose essential domestic work was often invisible and undervalued. She stepped into the role of my mother in many ways, providing care and support beyond her job, yet her contributions were frequently overlooked. Through her, I witnessed the strength and dignity of women in such roles, as well as the quiet injustices they endured,” Abranches explains.
Abranches and Ana Maria met when the latter began working in the home of a friend. Years later, approaching Ana Maria to work on a project, the photographer found her to be open to the idea, recognizing the importance of bringing narratives such as her own to light.
Ana Maria’s story, of shaping a life for herself in Lisbon, is told in the form of a diary where images and text intermingle. In the project, we see the spaces she works in, the routines that shape her day, and moments of exhaustion, alongside older photographs and documents from her past.
Abranches’ photographs are filled with dark corners and unexpected splashes of vivid color. The clutter of housework, the chaos of commutes, and the quiet solace of a church appear. The captions inform the viewer of the myriad, tiring, caregiving tasks that fill Ana Maria’s days. Abranches describes wanting the process to be as natural as possible, aiming for it to become almost “invisible” over time. “The collaboration was more about trust and presence,” she notes. To achieve this, Abranches spent several weeks with Ana Maria without photographing. Once she brought her camera along there was no direction. She just captured moments as they unfolded.
The most touching inclusions are Maria’s handwritten recollections. “During the months we spent together, I did some informal interviews with Ana Maria, which I asked to record,” Abranches explains. “I wanted her to use the exact words she had said in the recordings, so I dictated them to her, allowing her to write them down in her own calligraphy. I felt that these two testimonials were key to getting to know Ana Maria, offering a deeper, more personal insight into her story.”
In one of these collages, she describes the patronizing effect of a priest interceding on her behalf, urging her employers to have her sit with them for lunch. The reflection captures the awkwardness alongside the anger and the sobering reality of the experience, adding another emotional layer to the series as a whole. The photograph that accompanies the text, of a young Ana Maria standing next to her charge, lingers with the viewer. The effect is one in which past and present are inextricably linked—and layered together, the effect is deeply moving. Yet the project also speaks to the future, in a quiet image of Ana Maria and her grandchildren, lit faintly by the light from an open church door.
In MARIA, Abranches has created a portrait of both a singular woman and an overlooked section of Portuguese society. In confronting Portugal’s past and present, Abranches and Ana Maria have added to the possibility of a more inclusive vision of Portuguese future.
— Photo story by Maria Abranches, a winner of the LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards 2024. Discover all 25 emerging talents here!