Queridas compañeras: memoria, cuidado y afecto en la casa del Watu

Abstract

This doctoral thesis is a research based on the artistic practice developed between 2019 and 2024, in the basin of the Doce River in Brazil, with residents affected by the rupture of a toxic waste dam in November 2015. The methodology that makes up this research is mainly inscribed in the field of practices situated in the geographical context, with the interest of providing support and care to Thalena, Vó Hilda, Terezinha and Luzia, four affected women from different territories of the Rio Doce basin. Through four performative residencies based on care, this research has been developed with the purpose of supporting the struggles of the affected communities, through an exhibition created thanks to the records and materials of the four residencies carried out, as well as through a series of conversations with women, artists, researchers and the general public. This has served to reflect on the current situation of the territories and on how we can support, care for and strengthen this struggle that belongs to all of us.