In June 2023, Mãe Preta was invited by curator Nina Øverli and Anna Koch at WELD contemporary dance space in Stockholm to participate in the event “Art and Motherhood”. We activated the space with an offering for the Black mothers and created a lecture-performance with the Brazilian writer and researcher Isi de Paula, and read a poem by AfroBrazilian poet and author Conceição Evaristo “Voices-Women” (1992). The poem is an intergenerational perspective on motherhood and the Middle Passage, and we introduced Evaristo’s concept of “escrevivência” – life-writing –or writing from lived experience. The symbol of resistance of the Abayomi rag doll, made by enslaved mothers as a parting gift to children during their violent separation in the slave ships, and gifted to us by our collaborator Glauce Pimenta Rosa, was passed around, followed by a lively discussion with the participants.
