2023 – ongoing

Paulo Freire, in his luminous meditations on pedagogy, speaks of the “connective child”—a being who carries within it the seeds of relational alchemy, capable of developing human connections as a primary transformative force to change the world. For Freire, this is not merely a personal trait but an epistemological and political act, a radical reimagining of how knowledge, power, and humanity intersect.

Since 2023, I have been engaged in intensive art workshops in Burkina Faso, collaborating with a diverse group of African and European artists to work alongside former street children. This initiative is not merely an artistic endeavor but a methodological exploration of how creative practices can foster agency, resilience, and relationality among youth. The workshop serves as a living laboratory, where we experiment with art as a form of participatory research, co-creating knowledge with the children rather than imposing external narratives. Through this process, we aim to understand how art can function as a “relational alchemy,” transforming individual and collective experiences into a shared language of empowerment.

In this process, I have witnessed the emergence of what I call a “bodily alphabet”—a lexicon of gestures, movements, and symbolic expressions that carry profound meaning. These children have taught me that the body itself is a canvas, a site of storytelling and resistance. Their gestures—whether a push, a grip, or a fleeting hand movement—speak volumes, revealing emotions and histories that words cannot fully capture. This has fundamentally reshaped my approach to photography, shifting it from a purely visual use to a dynamic tool for capturing and interpreting embodied knowledge. 

in progress..