Giloya – Power of Africa

 

 

“When you see a boat set sail,
remember how difficult it was to build it.”
(African proverb)

I met Giloya Do Nascimento in November 2019, during a multi-ethnic fashion show. She wore clothes from a Moroccan designer: she looked like a queen.

Then she sang and I was enchanted. Beautiful and with a warm and deep voice. I later knew that she comes from Angola.

I don't have much knowledge of Africa but I am still fascinated by it, first of all for the very strong colors of the clothes and the powerful character of the women.

She loved very much that one portrait I made of her that day.

We stayed in touch, and decided to meet again.

Do a short photo session, with her friend Rufus Ujay Jackson from Liberia, with whom they recorded a song together.

For the occasion we went to Villa Borghese almost at sunset, and she wore dresses and masks by the designer Yaya Die from Senegal.

We had a lot of fun, she changed clothes quickly: I called her the Lioness of Africa and the Jamiroquai of Angola.

I also adapted my style of photography according to them, with Jackson's stylish poses, a mix of urban and Africa.

 

This is the result.

From Wikipedia:

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (Portuguese: República de Angola), is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. It is the second largest lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) country in both total area and population (behind Brazil), and it is the seventh-largest country in Africa, bordered by Namibia to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Angola has an exclave province, the province of Cabinda that borders the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital and largest city of Angola is Luanda.
The territory of Angola has been inhabited since the Paleolithic Era, hosting a wide variety of ethnic groups, tribes and kingdoms. The nation state of Angola originated from Portuguese colonization, which initially began with coastal settlements and trading posts founded in the 16th century. In the 19th century, European settlers gradually began to establish themselves in the interior. The Portuguese colony that became Angola did not have its present borders until the early 20th century because of resistance by groups such as the Cuamato, the Kwanyama and the Mbunda.
After a protracted anti-colonial struggle, independence was achieved in 1975 as the Marxist–Leninist People's Republic of Angola, a one-party state supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba. The civil war between the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the insurgent anti-communist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), supported by the United States and South Africa, lasted until 2002. The sovereign state has since become a relatively stable unitary, presidential constitutional republic.

Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Côte d'Ivoire to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south-southwest. It has a population of around 5 million and covers an area of 111,369 square kilometers (43,000 sq mi). English is the official language, but over 20 indigenous languages are spoken, representing the numerous ethnic groups who make up more than 95% of the population. The country's capital and largest city is Monrovia.
Liberia began as a settlement of the American Colonization Society (ACS), who believed black people would face better chances for freedom and prosperity in Africa than in the United States. The country declared its independence on July 26, 1847. The U.S. did not recognize Liberia's independence until February 5, 1862, during the American Civil War. Between January 7, 1822, and the American Civil War, more than 15,000 freed and free-born black people who faced legislated limits in the U.S., and 3,198 Afro-Caribbeans, were relocated to the settlement. The settlers carried their culture and tradition with them. The Liberian constitution and flag were modeled after those of the U.S. On January 3, 1848, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, a wealthy, free-born African American from Virginia who settled in Liberia, was elected Liberia's first president after the people proclaimed independence.
Liberia was the first African republic to proclaim its independence, and is Africa's first and oldest modern republic.

 

All photos have been taken in
Villa Borghese
ROME – 21 November 2020

 

Song of Giloya & Jackson:

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