Colonization

Sometimes I think about the great explorations – Who did this kind of thing?
They must have been either courageous or foolish: maybe there is a thin line between the two. Many people think this – that the sea is linked with the urge to find new things + get away from it all. With the urge to see every place on earth.

There’s a dependency on it, from its power and immensity. There is a thing there that does something in the stomach. There’s also a very strong connection between the ocean
and colonization. Because, you see Portugal has a very long coast. The ocean is a very big resource.

On an intellectual level, I would say the most important element is traveling:
the forced traveling of African populations , but also things circulating across the Atlantic ocean.

P.P.Goods, people, music, ideas. It’s how the world is since 1492.

Some people from the generation of my mother and before came to France from the West Indies by boat. Like the European migrants arriving at Ellis Island. And I often wonder what it would feel like to sail for days and days on the ocean without seeing the shore + then, suddenly, seeing it. You’re starting a new life somewhere new but at the same time you’re in the middle of nowhere (during the crossing).

I began to hate the summer sea – it rang false. I hated the whole culture of sunbathing. I didn’t like the summer sun. I didn’t feel the need to colonize it or own the sea. It was fine that it was there and I was here.